The Mummy of Konoha
by Xx9ZeroxX9
Summary: Naruko left the village with someone who promised happiness, when she was only 6 years old. 6 years later she returns a broken girl who shows even less emotions than an Aburame. FemNaru/Hinata story.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is a female Naruto/Hinata story, don't like yuri? Then leave. Also this is not a one-shot, this will be a long story, how long? I have no idea, but it expands through the first Naruto season all the way to shippuden, so expect it to be pretty long. Word of warning there will be a few time skips, not sure how many, and it is not a happy story, it's sad and another thing is, don't expect this story to be frequently updated, I have another story which I'm working on right now, and working on two different stories while I'm in college, will be time consuming. Well now I think that's everything so, enjoy.**

Konoha, 10th of October

"EVERYONE KEEP ATTACKING, DON'T STOP!" yelled a konohajounin as they attacked or stalled the Kyuubi.

The kyuubi slammed his tail at the group, killing most of them. The lucky ones started retreating to join up with a different group.

"Dammit, we can't keep this up!" said a chuunin as he ducked to avoid the trees that were sent towards another group by kyuubi's tails.

"Where is Lord Hokage?" yelled another chuunin before he and his group were squashed by kyuubi's one of kyuubi's tails

"DAMMIT IT ALL, IS THIS THE END?" yelled another jounin, holding his leg which had a massive splinter going through it.

In a cave a 30 minutes away from Konohagakure no Sato, lies a redheaded women screaming in pain while she's giving birth, a spiky blond headed man with a white cloak with red flames on to bottom with the kanji for 4th in the middle, an old man wearing black shinobi battle armor and a another old man, not as old as the first one though, with long spiky white hair, a red cloak with black flames in the bottom and a hitai-ate with the kanji for 'oil' on it. These people were Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze, Minato Namikaze, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Jiraiya the Toad Sennin and right now, while Minato was getting his right hand crushed by Kushina, they were all witnessing the birth of the newest addition to the Uzumaki-Namikaze clan, the most secret clan of all Konoha, since nobody, except the people mentioned before, even knew it existed. Hiruzen and Jiraiya were thinking 'why are we here instead of fighting against the kyuubi?' They wanted to go and help their village but Minato had ordered them to come with him. Minato and Kushina had a plan to stop kyuubi, a plan they hated but knew that it was the only way to stop fox. After Kushina had the Kyuubi ripped out of her when Minato was out getting Hiruzen and Jiraiya, by a masked shinobi, he had not left her side, and kept blaming himself for the destruction the village is facing right now. They were all brought out of their thoughts when they heard a baby's cries. Hiruzen, cutting of the umbilical cord, walked over to Kushina.

"Congratulations you two, too my experience, you have a healthy baby girl. Said Hiruzen and he handed the baby to Kushina who, after catching her breath, took the baby in her arms and looked at it with eyes filled with love and sadness. "

Jiraiya came over and, after Kushina apologized for crushing Minato's hand, bandaged his hand while Minato kept his eyes upon his wife and baby girl.

"Minato, now that you witnezed the birth of your baby girl, a cute one at that" he said as he looked at the baby in Kushina's arms, and for the first time, felt like an old man, seeing as he was the godfather. He then looked back to Minato "Now we need to go and stop the fox so-"

"I know, sensei" spoke Minato as he looked at Jiraiya dead in the eyes, and Jiraiya say a lot of sadness in his eyes, something which surprised the toad sennin since he's never seen Minato like this "I know what might be done" he looked back to Kushina and saw the baby playing with a lock of Kushina's hair as Kushina's tears kept falling. "Kushina…it's time"

"I know" she spoke without taking her eyes of off the baby in her arms The baby went to sleep, sucking on her tumb. "But first, what will we name her?"

"Well, I lost the bet, so you get to name her" said Minato. Yes Minato and Kushina made a bet, if the baby was a boy, then Minato would pick a name, if it was a girl, Kushina will name the baby.

"Then…her name will be…Naruko"

"Naruko? Yes, Naruko…Naruko Uzumaki Namikaze"

Kushina raised a thumb and stroked Naruko's right cheek, Naruko made a small smile as she slept. Kushina then handed Naruko over to Minato, and he smiled sadly at the bundle of joy in his arms. He stood up and was about to leave when he saw Kushina trying to sit up.

"Kushina! What are you doing?" he asked

"I'm going with you"

"What? But-"

"No 'buts' Minato! I'm going with you and that's final"

Minato sighed, knowing that no matter what he did, she would follow no matter what, he also noted that Hiruzen and Jiraiya didn't even try to help, having suffered time to time, from Kushina's temper.

Minato helped Kushina stand up while holding Naruko with his other hand.

"Minato, Kushina, you mind explaining what is it you're going to do?" asked Hiruzen

"There's no time to explain, but I want to say, thank you, both of you. You Hiruzen for being a great Hokage and you were practically part of the family, like the grandfather I never had. And you Jiraiya, even though you're a huge perv"

"Super Pervert actually" corrected Jiraiya with a smile

"Super pervert, you were a great sensei and thank you again for that book of yours"

"Minato…why are you talking like that? It seems like you're going to…" Hiruzen then noticed why he waited that long, he looked towards Naruko, then to Kushina who had a sad face and then to Minato, same sadness in his face "You wouldn't"

"Sorry Hiruzen, it's the only way"

Jiraiya then noticed what their plan was "WAIT, MINATO"

But it was too late, Minato had used his Hiraishin jutsu and had transported himself, Kushina and Naruko to the battlefield were Kyuubi is.

"Jiraiya, hurry, we must stop him!" said Hiruzen and with that he started running out of the hideout and towards the battlefield, Jiraiya right behind him.

Minato handed Naruko over to Kushina, bit his thumb, made the necessary handseals, slammed both palms onto the ground and a puff of smoke covered the area. When it left, Minato and Kushina, who was holding Naruko, were standing ontop of Gamabunta's head.

"Minato, why have you summoned me?" he looked forward and noticed the Kyuubi, looking in their direction "Especially against that!"

"No time to explain Gamabunta-sama, just try and hold him off while I finish my plan"

"Hmm, fine, but you better hurry" Gamabunta then started avoiding Kyuubi's tails while slamming his tanto onto them, angering the kyuubi more than hurting him.

"Kushina here!" he removed an ink brush and ink bottle and handed them both to Kushina who gently sat Naruko down onto Gamabunta's head and took both items. As Minato did the handseals, Kushina was drawing the seal to hold Kyuubi onto Naruko's belly.

"Minato I'm done!" said Kushina

"Ok, here we go, Fuinjutsu: Shiki Fujin" Behind Minato appeared the Shinigami.

The Shinigami then stabbed Minato with one of his arms, while Minato kept the seal going. The Shingami then extended its other hand towards Kyuubi who also got impaled by it. Minato then intstructed the Shinigami and it then slowly pulled Kyuubi's soul away from his body. Kyuubi would have none of that and shot all of his tails towards Gamabunta who wasn't fast enough to evade all the tails even when he jumped up. He was hit pretty badly with the Kyuubi's last tail and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Minato, Kushina and Naruko to fall. The resulting effect this had was Minato catching his wife who had caught Naruko, but then the Shinigami finished pulling Kyuubi's soul away from his body but sealed the full powers into Naruko, both the Yin and the Yang. Minato then felt his soul being pulled away and twisted his body in the air, landing painfully on his back, but that was his intention because both Kushina and Naruko would have a softer landing. The job done, though not as Minato wanted, the Shinigami then disappeared. The Kyuubi's body was slowly dying but it managed to get on his legs one last time and used every inch left of his power for one last attack. Minato and Kushina saw this, sense they were almost no trees left where Kyuubi was fighting the shinobi, and they had a clear view of the fox. They saw that the fox raised his head, opened its mouth and in front of it, appeared a small black orb. Minato and Kushina knew what was coming but they couldn't do anything to stop the Kyuubi from attacking. Minato, not one to give up, stood up as he felt his life slowly slip away and formed a Rasengan with the last of his strength. Right now he just kept pumping charkra into it, trying to control it but at the same time, making it as powerful as possible even though he had just recently completed the Rasengan. When Minato was finished the Rasengan looked like a Giant Rasengan but it wasn't enough to stop the Kyuubi who just swallowed the orb and its body became incredibly heavy, creating a wide crater around it.

"Dammit…it's still…not enough…I need…more…strength…" he panted heavily as he felt the Rasengan and his life, slowly slip away

Just then he felt his Rasengan expand and looked next to him to see Kushina pumping whatever charkra she had left towards it.

"Kushina!"

"This is the only way Minato" she looked at him "You know that"

Minato reluctantly nodded and raised his right arm, the arm holding the Rasengan, into the sky, Kushina following with her left hand. The Rasengan grew to a huge size, roughly half the size of Choza when he uses his Full Body Expansion, and kept growing. The Rasengan finally stopped growing In power and size, now rivaling Choza's size when he uses the Full Body Expansion and if one were to look closely it looked like inside the Rasengan was a whirlind and a whirpool.

The Kyuubi opened his mouth and fired the huge blast which passed the Hokage Mountain in size.

"UZUMAKI"

"NAMIKAZE"

"RASENGAN!" yelled both Minato and Kushina and thrust the Rasengan forward, stopping the Kyuubi's Tailed Beast Ball. Both attacks fought for dominance, but neither wanted to give. Just then Minato and Kushina poured every inch of their chakra, which wasn't much now, and were able to make the attack shoot skywards. The Kyuubi's body finally fell and dissolved into chakra, which seeped into the ground, killing whatever vegetation was left. Minato and Kushina both fell back after the attack, landing on their backs, on either sides of Naruko. Minato to her left, Kushina to her right. Naruko started crying and Minato and Kushina enveloped her in a hug.

"Shhh, Naruko, everything…is going to be alright" spoke Minato softly

"That's right Naruko…Kaa-san and Otou-san are here" said Kushina

After a minute passed Naruko calmed down and started making baby noises. Both Minato and Kushina laughed at this.

"I hope…that…she grows up…to be a proud kunoichi" spoke Minato

"I know she will…" said Kushina

Just then Jiraiya and Hiruzan finally arrived, though they were too late.

"Minato!" Hiruzen rushed over to them followed by Jiraiya

Minato looked up and saw Hiruzen and Jiraiya "Hi Hiruzen"

"Is…is she…" Jiraiya couldn't even make out the words

"Yes…she is…the new…Jinchuriki…for the Kyuubi" said Kushina

Jiraiya and Hiruzen looked at baby Naruko and noticed the whisker marks on both her cheeks. Their attention was soon taken when Minato called them

"Hiruzen…you're going to…have to be the Hokage…again…and please…try and…make the villagers…see Naruko…for what she truly is…the true hero…who saved the leaf village"

"I'll try" he said as his tears fell

"Thank you, old friend" and with that Minato took his last breath but not before whispering "I'm sorry Naruko…I love you and your Kaa-san very much…I hope…you can forgive me…for this" only Kushina heard it and she had tears in her eyes as she felt Minato's hands grow cold.

"Minato…"

"Damn Gaki…protecting the Leaf till your dying breath"

Kushina looked down upon the crying Naruko and she felt her own life slipping away

"H-hiruzen…J-jiraiya…take…care…of Naruko…for us…"

"What? Don't tell me you're!" but Jiraiya looked upon the sad eyes of Kushina and knew that she was also dying.

"You know…chakra…exhaustion…was…always…a pain…" Kushina then looked down upon the crying Naruko and raised a shaky hand to rub her cheek "I…love you…Naruko…just like your Otou-san…we both love you…very…very much…" and with that Kushina's eyes closed and she breathed her last breath.

Council Room-3 hours after Kyuubi's sealing

The council room was in an uproar. Hiruzen Sarutobi the newly re-appointed 3rd Hokage had just informed them of Minato's passing, and Kyuubi's sealing into the baby Naruko and now every single member of the Civilian Council and half of the Shinobi council were shouting for Naruko's death. The only people not wishing for the death of the baby were the clan heads and Danzo, which surprised Hiruzen but he thought he had some ulterior motive for not wishing for her death. Hiruzen had also neglected to tell them that the baby was Minato's child, although he did this on purpose, who knows if any of these civilians are thrustworthy enough to not go gallivanting off and telling the other nations that he met the Fourth's daughter. Also he didn't want to tell them anything about Naruko, pass the fake information he gave them all about Minato picking a random orphan.

"**ENOUGH!**" yelled Hiruzen leaking a huge amount of Killing Intent which silenced every single person in the room

"I cannot believe this; the Fourth wanted this child to be known as a hero and now you all want her death?" spoke Hiruzen, truly appalled

"The Fourth was an idiot to let the demon live" spoke a civilian councilman only to be silenced by the Killing intent of Hiashi Hyuuga

"Do not speak ill of my friend" he said, and the councilman did not speak again, lest he face the wrath of a Gentle Fist Master.

"Now, is there any 'clan'" emphasizing clan so as to not give the civilian council any ideas "That would like to honor the Fourth's dying wish and protect this child, like one of your own?"

Shibi Aburame was the first who spoke "I am sorry Hokage-sama, but the Aburame clan cannot adopt the child, for fear of the fox's chakra killing our bugs"

Next was Inoichi Yamanaka was the second one who spoke "The Yamanaka clan cannot because I do not believe she would be able to learn our clan techniques because of the fox disrupting her brain patterns, example would be if I would go inside her mind, I might have to face the Fox and that might not turn out to well on my part"

Tsume Inuzuka spoke next "I cannot because, like Inoichi said, she would not be able to learn my clan techniques and as you know Inu's and Foxes do not get along, so we don't know what would happen to her and I cannot be with her 24/7"

Choza Akimichi was next "Like my comrades she would not be able to learn the techniques of the clan and it would pain my heart to see her always sad if she were in our home because she feels different than the others of my clan"

Shikaku Nara spoke after Choza "I also cannot take care of her. As you know we own deers and I don't think they would take too kindly having someone who smells like foxes near them, also being that having more troublesome women would be troublesome" some people snickered at this, knowing how true that was, especially Hiruzen since, knowing Kushina's temper, it was most likely passed down to Naruko and that would be very troublesome

Hiashi Hyuuga was the semi-last who spoke and Hiruzen was hoping that he could, because the last clan head was Fugaku Uchiha and Hiruzen was sure as hell NOT about to let Naruko with them "I…also cannot; the elders of my clans would not tolerate a non-hyuuga living with us and worse being a so called 'demon'" he glared at the civilian council with his Byakugan active

Now it was Fugaku's turn and Hiruzen was dreading this "I" Hiruzen waited for the 'I'll take care of her' phrase that was sure to come, imagine when Fugaku said "cannot" Hiruzen was dumbfounded as was Danzo, and well most of everyone in the room

"Excuse me come again?" asked Hiruzen thinking that he must be really old for hearing things

"I said I cannot take the child"

"Well…may I ask for a reason?" asked Hiruzen, who was outside calm, but on the inside he was jumping for joy

"The reason being since the child 'is' the demon it would be better for it to be either killed or used as a weapon for the leaf, and I do not plan on teaching the child, nor do any of my clan"

Hiruzen was appalled and happy at the same time, appalled because Fugaku looked to be choosing both the council and Danzo, but happy because this meant that he would make the final decision regarding Naruko's place of home and he was not about to let Danzo have the little girl.

"Fine…since no one can take her, I have no choice but to put her in the orphanage" people started screaming and yelling, he caught things like 'The Hokage has been bewitched by the demon already, it must be killed!' or 'The Hokage must have really gone senile, strip him of his power!' and last but certainly not least which infuriated him 'Kill the demon, don't let it live any longer, kill it while it's weak!'

"**SILENCE!**" he leaked killing intent again which shut up the council and the shinobi's that wanted the 'demon' dead.

"The child is going to the orphanage and that's final. Anything and Everything that was discusses is now an S-class village secret. Under no circumstances are you to reveal anything about this child, regarding the Kyuubi demon. **UNDERSTAND?**" the last bit seemed more like an order than a question

The council knew they were beat and nodded their heads in approval, though some felt like vomiting, but, just because they couldn't reveal anything regarding the 'Kyuubi demon' as their Hokage said, did not mean that they couldn't make her life a living hell, and heck, if the demon were to die in her first days of living by an 'accident', then who was to blame? They would be ridding the world of one less demon right? Maybe this is what the Fourth mean by 'treating her as a hero' yeah, he meant that since the kyuubi now inhabited the body of a baby, it would be incredibly weakened and so easy to kill. Yeah that's what the Fourth truly wanted, to praise the orphan who gave up their life, albheit unwillingly, so he can die, the kyuubi now took over a human body who is also incredibly weak, and then, the people kill it. Hiruzen was just too dum and old to notice the truth in front of his eyes, this is the Fourth's true will. Although that's what the council and most shinobi's thought. Hiruzen could see it in their eyes that things were not going to be as he had hoped.

**A/N: First chapter done. Did you enjoy? Yes I know, this does nothing for the story, more like a prologue really, the real first chapter is in process right now, and hopefully won't take too long. And for those wondering what the title for this story means, you'll know later. First time skip is in the first chapter to when Naruko is 4. Thanks and remember to review because that brings a smile to Naruko's face, even though her life is going to be a horrible mess, but hey? That's why we read these kinds of story, to see if someday something lightens up his/her life. Well like I said in the beginning this is a yuri story and if you hate these kinds of stories, then bye, also i might include another couple or two, but no Kakashi/Kurenai, she's going to be paired up with Asuma and I don't care how much you don't like that, suck it up, not changing my mind on that pairing but any other pairing you want me to include, feel free, I might leave a poll one day where it'll show the different pairings for the story, though I'm not sure. Oh and one more thing, why? Just why do people like reading Naruko and Sasuke so much? The only person I can see Sasuke with is Sakura, and no character is OOC, in other words, Sasuke isn't a happy man that likes to make friends and is always smiling, no I mean as in he's still he's emo-brooding self, only he has a heart, kind of. And Sakura isn't all nice and stuff, unlike her normal bitchy self, sorry but it's true. But like I said, why do some of you like to read or make Naruko and Sasuke so much? I cannot stand it! There ain't that many good stories of Naruko that do not involve Sasuke as her love interest. I can handle her with Gaara, with Shikamaru, though I prefer him with Temari, heck I'm even going with Lee, and the guy drives me insane with his Fires of Youth, or any other guy, that's close to her age, but not Sasuke, I just can't.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow, that didn't take very long, only 4-5 days i think. Well here is the next chapter of The Undead Mummy of Konoha. Enjoy, now you get a glimpse of Naruko's life, still don't know how what I'm going to do, i'm doing this story as I go, though I already have an idea of where to go.**

Konoha-4 years later

"THERE IT IS, KILL THE DEMON!"

Naruko was running for her life as fast as her legs could carry her without tripping on her pink kimono. Her long red hair was flowing in the wind as she ran and her blue eyes scanned the area around her trying to look for a place to hide. The mob kept getting closer and closer and she was able to run into an alleyway right when the one closest to her swung his shovel and missed. The mob then ran into the alleyway too, but could not see any sing of her. She had hid herself behind the garbage dump and when they entered and kept going a few feet away, she could still see them but she kept close to the wall so as to try an escape without making a sound, but it looks like Kami hated her, because just when she was about to escape she hit a rock, and a jounin turned back and taking out a kunai, and throwing it the moment he turned around, hitting her left arm. She cried in pain which made the mob turn around just as she ran out. The mob immediately left the alleyway, following the ninjas who were in front now, as they followed the poor girl. The ANBU trailing the mob threw a kunai which embedded itself in the girls left leg and she fell to the ground crying her eyes out as the mob caught up to her and started hitting her. The beating lasted 30 minutes and poor Naruko was within an inch of her life covered in her own blood. After the mob left and one ninja kicked her one last time in the stomach, the ANBU that threw the kunai dropped down and checked her pulse, and sure enough she had one albeit faint. Before Naruko lost consciousness the only thing she was able to see was that the ANBU had silver hair, spiked up and an inu mask. She then lost consciousness.

The ANBU took out a kunai and placed it at her neck, and would had slit her throat, had it not been for someone slamming onto him. The ANBU tried to pry off whoever it was and saw a girl with brown hair that reached her shoulders, a white robe and a white bandanna, she looked to be around 6-7 years old.

"Dad, she's still alive" spoke the girl as she checked her pulse

"Good, now Ayame, take Naruko and get her to the hospital while I keep this guy here occupied" he forced more strengh into the bear hug he was giving the ANBU.

"Ok Dad" Ayame then gently lifted Naruko and carried her to the hospital.

When Ayame and Naruko were out of sight, the ANBU was finally able to break the bear hug only to recieve a right hook to the face, creating cracks around his mask.

The ANBU tried to jump to the roofstops but he couldnt move his legs. When he looked down he saw they were incased in stone. He was surprised and looked at the man in front of him and saw that he had his hands in a hand-seal. The man then made more hand-seals.

"**Earth Style: Earthen Slam**" a chunk of stone flew out of the earth and slammed against the ANBU at a very fast pace. The ANBU was sent flying until he hit the wall of a house and broke right through it, slamming into another wall, and leaving and imprint of him before falling to the floor. a

"Woohoo, Old Man Teuchi still got it!" he pumped one fist in the air and straightened up a bit too much before he heard a snap of the bones _"Ohhhh, my back!" _Teuchi started limping to the hospital for two reasons. The first and foremost, to see if Naruko's alright, the second reason...to check his back.

Naruko slowly opened her eyes but close then when light hit her. She tried to get accustomed to it and when she was able to, opened her eyes to look at where she was. She knew where she was, the same white tiles everywhere, the same green sheets in her bed, the same window view, the same room as always when she was here.

"I'm in my hospital room…again" she whispered too weak to speak louder

The door then opened and in walked Hiruzen Sarutobi wearing his Hokage robes and hat. He hurried over to Naruko's side and sat down, smiling at her, she smiled back.

"Who brought me here?" asked Naruko, looking at Hiruzen with half-lidded eyes

"It was the owner of Ichiraku Ramen, Teuchi and his daughter, Ayame"

"I have to...thank them then"

"How are you feeling?" spoke Hiruzen

"Weak…but that's normal for me…isn't it Ojii-san?" she said

Hiruzen felt his smile leave his face and he sighed "Well, as long as you're safe"

"How long will I be here this time?"

"About a week or two, depending on how you heal anyway"

She giggled a bit "You know I heal fast Ojii-san"

"I know, I know, well I have to go back, so get better, and then I'll treat you to ramen"

"Yay, ramen!" she was still too weak, everything came out a whisper even when she tried to raise her arms, but quickly fell asleep.

"Oh, Naruko" Hiruzen stared upon her sleeping figure with sadness in his eyes. This was one of the worst beatings she's ever had. Before it didn't last as long but it looks like the villagers are getting restless and they seem to think that the older she gets the dangerous she is. "What am I going to do…what can I do?" he rubbed her head while she slept which brought a small smile to her lips

2 weeks later

Naruko had gotten discharged from the hospital earlier that day and Hiruzen treated her to ramen like he said he would at Ichiraku Ramen, this way she could thank them, which she did. Poor man, he didn't know what he was getting himself into and left the stand with almost no money at all, only for lunch, if he wanted any that is, because it was only enough for 4 more ramen cups.

Right now Naruko was walking in through the forest, the only place where she felt safe. But today something was different; she was hearing someone crying and started walking towards the noise. When she got there she saw three boys bullying another girl who looked to be the same age as Naruko with short dark blue hair and pupil-less lavender eyes.

"Hey, come one, say you're sorry" said bully #1

"Yeah, yeah, say it, say it" exclaimed bully #2

"I-I-I-I'm s-s-sor-r-ry" said the girl as tears fell from her eyes

"Hey that's not how you apologize" said bully #3 and he pushed her onto the floor as bully #1 stomped on her head

"Now say you're sorry" said bully #1

"I-I'm sor-r-ry, I-I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry" she kept crying as the bully kept pressing her head onto the floor

"Now that's better" said bully #2

"HEY, LEAVE HER ALONE"

The bullies turned back and saw another girl wearing a pink kimono, long red hair that reached her lower back and blue eyes.

"Hey look, it's the demon of the leaf" chuckled bully #3

"Leave her alone" said Naruko

The bullies walked over to her, they were 1 all just one year older than her, from what she could gather anyway.

"And what are you gonna do about it hah, demon?" said bully #2

"This!" and she tackled bully #1 and stared punching him in the face.

Bully #2 kicked her off of his friend and bully #3 helped bull #1 up. While Naruko got up the bullies were on her and started beating her up. It lasted for a few minutes until they heard someone yell.

"LADY HINATA, WHERE ARE YOU?"

The bullies immediately got scared and ran off but not before they each kicked Naruko one more time. When the man reached the place where Hinata and Naruko was, he saw Hinata walking over to Naruko.

"Lady Hinata, don't!"

Hinata stopped in her tracks "B-b-but s-sh-he-"

"You must not go near that demon" he said sternly and grabbed her hand "Now come, you're late for your lesson"

"B-b-but"

"No 'buts', you must not get near that 'thing' ever again"

Hinata looked back at Naruko but was pulled away by her instructor. Naruko just lay there, waiting until most of the pain left. After an hour passed she got up on shaky legs and walked back to the village. She raised a hand to her swollen left cheek while she held her hurting stomach. She had a black eye, her right eye, and she was limping home. She made it there minutes later, walking up the stairs, taking out her key; she walked inside and closed the door, locking it too. Her apartment only had two different rooms. The living room, which had a kitchen and the bedroom which had a bathroom; walking over to her bedroom after taking of her shoes, she sat on her bed and gently lied down on her, her head resting on her pillow, as she hugged her orange fox doll. She started crying letting her tears hit her fox doll and she eventually cried herself to sleep.

A week later

Naruko was walking around the village. People were glaring at her with hate and anger in their eyes. They would whisper, some even yelling at her, calling her a demon, a monster, an unwanted child, an unloved monster. And very few even tried to hurt her in broad daylight, but there were some and they would throw bottles at her while some threw rocks. Kids would usually just try and ignore her, but the ones who did not want to would belittle her. Naruko finally made it to her destination, the Ninja Academy. She moved around it and saw the tree swing she usually sat at. She walked over to it and sat on it, grabbing the reins, and just sat there staring at the floor, while she heard some kids in the academy talking, laughing, playing with others, in other words they were having fun, a word that's foreign to her, just like care, like, love, happiness, etc. She stayed on that swing for thirty minutes before she heard footsteps. At first she ignored it, thinking it was someone walking to and from the academy; that was until the footsteps stopped in front of her. She didn't notice because she had her eyes closed, waiting for the beating.

"Uhh…e-e-excuse m-me"

Naruko opened her eyes and raised her head to look at the person in front of her. Imagine her surprise when it was the same girl she took a beating for.

"Uhh…I-I-I umm" the girl in front of her kept stuttering, unable to say what she came here to say

Naruko then got over her sudden shock and asked a question

"What's your name?"

The girl looked at her and poked her index fingers together in a shy gesture "H-H-Hin-n-nata H-Hyuuga"

Naruko smiled "Naruko, Naruko Uzumaki" Naruko let go of the rein to her left and held up a hand to the girl "Nice to meet you, Hinata"

Hinata looked at the hand, then back at Naruko. She smiled and took the hand "N-nice t-to meet y-y-you t-to N-Naruko"

"Uhmm, Hinata, if you don't mind me asking, why are you speaking to me?" she asked solemnly

"W-what d-do y-y-you m-me-an?"

"Well, everybody seems to hate me for something, and well…this is the longest I've talked to anyone, except for Hokage-sama"

"Oh, w-w-well, uhh, it's because w-w-well I-I-I uhh, I-I uhh wanted to a-ap-p-ologize f-f-for what happened to you a w-w-week ago"

"That? Don't worry, that happens to me all the time" she said with a smile but Hinata saw right through it and saw the immense sadness in Naruko's blue eyes

"N-Naruko, would you l-like to…to…b-b-be my uhh…my friend?"

Naruko eyes started to water and she hugged Hinata with a loud yes, making Hinata 'eep' and they both fell to the floor. Naruko apologized for that and helped Hinata up. They soon started talking about random things, and before they knew it, it was late in the afternoon, but they didn't pay it any heed. They just kept talking without a care in the world since they never had a friend. But all good things must come to an end, so they say.

"LADY HINATA!"

Both Naruko and Hinata looked towards the voice and saw the same Hyuuga man from before and they both paled, more Naruko than Hinata and they both got to their feet, Hinata looking down shyly while Naruko was looking around for an escape.

"What do you think you're doing, demon?" the man started walking over to them while Naruko kept backing away

"I'm sorry" said Naruko as she kept backing away

"If you so much as touched a hair on Hinata-sama's head…" he took out a kunai

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" she hit a tree and slid down onto the floor, shaking

"P-please don't hurt her" said Hinata

"Hinata I told you not to associate with this demon, now I must teach It a lesson so it learns that Hyuuga's do not associate with demons" he twirled the kunai in his hands and raised hit above his head

Naruko raised her arms protectively while yelling 'I'm sorry' again and again

"This will teach you demon!" he swung his kunai downwards in a stabbing motion

"DON'T HURT MY FRIEND!" Hinata rushed to the man

Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Hinata's arms glowed with chakra and she slammed her right palm into the man's left leg, making him fall on his side onto the floor. The man did not have enough time to look up as Hinata slammed her other arm into the man's head, knocking him out for quite a while. Hinata then walked over to the shaking Naruko, and she kneeled and wrapped her arms around Naruko. Naruko stiffened at first but let her arms wrap around Hinata as she laid her head on Hinata's chest and started crying. A few minutes passed as Hinata rubbed Naruko's back and sang the lullaby her mother sings to her every night, and they heard someone yell.

"HINATA"

The girls let go of each other and looked at the direction where it came from and saw a woman with long dark blue hair like Hinata, and the same pupil-less lavender eyes like Hinata and the man who was still knocked out.

"Kaa-san" said Hinata, surprised her mother was here "W-what a-are you d-d-doing here?"

The woman rushed over to the girls and spoke "I sent him" she pointed to the unconscious man 5 feet away from Hinata and Naruko "To go look for you, but I started to get worried after half an hour passed and so I went out to go look for you" she said with a happy smile

"S-sorry K-kaa san" said Hinata looking down to her feet

"So, who's your friend?" she asked motioning to Naruko

Naruko looked over to Hinata, whom nodded "Naruko Uzumaki, ma'am"

"So you're the so called demon of the leaf?"

Naruko looked down and closed her eyes, waiting for the insults and maybe the beating she was expecting to get, it wouldn't be the first time.

"Don't worry Naruko, unlike the villagers, I didn't mean anything by it"

Naruko looked back up, surprised that this woman was different than the villagers. She thought that this woman was going to be like the man who was about to attack her before.

"Hinata, come on we need to get home"

Hinata then walked over to her mother and grabbed her hand, but before she left, she looked back at Naruko who was staring at the floor, not moving an inch. Hinata's mother saw this and knew what Hinata was thinking.

"Naruko, would you like to join us for dinner?" spoke Hinata's mother, making Hinata and Naruko look up in surprise

"Is it really ok? I mean, I don't think the others from your clan would tolerate me, just like him" she said pointing to the still unconscious Hyuuga chuunin on the floor.

"Don't worry; I'll make sure they don't try anything funny, now how about it?"

"o-ok" she walked over to Hinata's mother and was surprised to see that she was holding her other hand for her.

Naruko looked up and saw the woman smiling down at her with a warm smile and eyes that were full of love. Naruko then shakily took the hand and the woman firmly grasped Naruko's hand

"Now let's go, we're late and I don't know about you, but I'm really hungry" she then led the two away, leaving the still knocked out man on the floor. Not to worry, she sent another guard to retrieve him, though she did it hesitantly after learning what he was about to do to Naruko. Needless to say, Hiashi, Hinata's father, was surprised to see his wife with Naruko, though after learning what was about to happen he was very tempted to teach the chuunin a lesson. One order he gave to each and every single Hyuuga was that, no matter what, no Hyuuga would harm Naruko, it was the least he could do for her, him being Minato's friend, he could do that much for the poor girl, who has suffered too much in these 4 years of her life, and this chuunin dared to break it. He would have taught him a lesson was it not for the elders who said that they would teach him a lesson, but in secrecy they actually congratulated the man for what he was about to do, though they were saddened that it didn't happen.

2 years later

Naruko, now 6 years old, was walking to the Hokage Tower on orders of the Hokage wanting to talk to her about something. This last 2 years have been you could say contradictory. On one hand, she finally found a friend in Hinata and a mother figure in Kazuki, Hinata's mother, also a father figure but that was sometimes in Hiashi, Hinata's father and Kazuki's husband, and also she had a grandfather in Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage. But on the other hand, the mobs have been getting worse and she mostly spent her time in her apartment and she would only come out during the day if she had something important to do, like go buy food or if she's called by the Hokage, or Hinata came over to play with her somewhere, but she would always try and be home around 6:00 at stay there. The last time she stayed up late she almost died, literally. But thanks to this she met the thing that made everyone hate her, the Kyuubi. Kyuubi only told Naruko that she didn't want to attack Konoha but was forced to by a man wearing a mask. Beyond that, Kyuubi didn't tell Naruko anything else, and Naruko asked for more, knowing that Kyuubi would tell her in time. Well anyway, she made it to the Hokage tower and now stood outside the door to the Hokage's office. She shyly knocked on the door, still not used to the ANBU guards stationed outside the door, who scare her very much. She heard a 'Come in' and grabbed the doorknob and opened the door, closing it behind her when she stepped inside. Once inside she saw a woman with long black hair that reached her shoulders, a purple kimono with a blue Obi, talking to Hiruzen.

"Ahh, Naruko, thank you for coming, please take a seat" he motioned to the seat next to the woman who looked back and smiled at Naruko

Naruko walked over to the seat and sat on it, wondering why she was called here.

"Now Naruko, I'm sure you're wondering why I've called you here, and the reason, this woman" he gestured towards the woman next to Naruko "Has told me that she wants to adopt you"

Naruko immediately look at the woman to her right and then back at Hiruzen, then back at the woman "Y-y-you w-w-want t-t-t-to adopt m-m-e?"

The woman smiled a bright smile to Naruko "Yes that's right, I've seen how the villagers look at you and I have to say, I feel disgusted" she said with hate in her voice

"B-b-b-but…why me?"

"Well Naruko, as I told Hokage-sama a few minutes before you entered, I run an orphanage somewhere in the Elemental countries, that is more like a safe haven for kids who have been hated or mistreated. I travel around the elemental countries looking for these children and I you could say, save them from their pain. Then I bring them to the orphanage to meet other kids who have gone through the same pain so they can relate and become friends"

Naruko contemplated these for a few minutes before she spoke "You mentioned that this place was somewhere in the Elemental countries?"

"Yes that's correct, the reason being that I want the kids to feel safe and not in danger, and so, when I adopt or, for lack of a better word right now, kidnap these oppress kids, I don't tell them where it is located, and for the orphanages where I adopt kids, I don't tell them where it is either"

"So…it's like a safe place for hated kids, like me?"

"Yes, but here, we don't hate the kids, we teach them how to behave and make friends with others, and when they grow old enough, they can leave if they want too, or stay and help with the other kids, so far very few had wanted to leave and most just want to stay in an environment where they feel loved and not hated"

Naruko again contemplated this. She didn't want to be hated anymore, yes she had Hinata, Kasuki and, sometimes, Hiashi, also Hiruzen, Teuchi and Ayame but that was it. Six people out of a whole Hidden Village, and it was the strongest of the main five Hidden Villages. She actually wondered how a village that treats a child like this was even made into a Hidden Village, let alone become the strongest; she honestly didn't want to find out how the others were. If the Village Hidden in the Leafs was like this she didn't even want to know how bad the others were, just thinking about it sent a shiver down her spine. But she wanted to find a place where she's accepted and this might be her only chance, but she didn't want to leave Hinata, her only friend. She honestly didn't know what to do.

"I…I don't know what to say…I mean I really want to say yes but…I have a friend here and I don't want to leave her but…"

"Don't worry Naruko, you don't have to answer right now, I'll still be in the village for two more days, you can tell me then, just ask Hokage-sama to send someone to pick me up, he knows where I'm living right now"

The woman then stood up, bowed to the Hokage and gave one last smile to Naruko before she left the office. Now only Hiruzen and Naruko were left.

"Ojii-san, what should I do?"

Hiruzen sighed "Well Naruko…I don't know, but this decision rests solely on you. You may ask for advice but in the end, you must make the choice, I won't stop you, even if you decide to leave"

Naruko then nodded "Thanks Ojii-san, I'm going to think about this ok?" she stood up and left the room too.

The next day

The next day came by too fast for Naruko who stayed up almost all night thinking if she should accept or decline the offer. She stood up on her bed, walked into the bathroom, walked over to the sink and splashed some cold water on her face to take away her drowsiness. 45 minutes later she was outside on the streets on her way to the Hyuuga Manor.

When she arrived the guards reluctantly let her in and she took of her shoes and walked over to the garden where Hinata spent most of her time with her mother. When she arrived she saw Hinata and Kazuki talking while Kazuki held onto her 9 month pregnant belly.

Kazuki looked over to the door when she heard footsteps "Ahh, Naruko-chan, what brings you here today?"

Naruko walked over and explained what happened yesterday at the Hokage Tower. When she finished, Kazuki was deeply contemplating, while Hinata was also thinking although she wanted Naruko to stay to be her friend that would be really selfish of her, knowing how much the villagers hate Naruko and she wanted her friend to be safe and accepted by other people. Kazuki was the first who spoke.

"Well Naruko, this is a very hard decision. On one hand you could have a better life than now, but on the other hand, you don't want to leave the people who treat you as a person"

Naruko was stumped; it looks like neither knew what to do huh?

"I-I uhh…I think y-you should…you s-should go" said Hinata, which made Naruko look at her like she grew a second head, while Kazuki already knew what Hinata was going to say

"What? But I thought…" started Naruko but the words didn't come

"I-I know…b-b-but…you…y-y-you might be h-h-happier there, t-t-than you are here"

"But...what about our friendship?"

"It's n-n-not like you're d-dying, w-w-we'll get to see e-e-each other ag-g-gain r-r-right?"

Naruko was sad but smiled and hugged Hinata "We'll definitely see each other again, I promise"

Hinata was surprised but hugged Naruko back. Kazuki was happy for the girls but sad that Naruko was leaving, but maybe, this is exactly what she needed, to leave the village for a time and one day come back. Unknown to the six year old girls, but not to Kazuki, was that Hiashi was standing on the stairs leading to the garden, and heard everything. Hiashi was also saddened by Naruko wanting to leave, but felt that in the Minato would have wanted his daughter's happiness, and if that wasn't able to be attained in the village, then maybe she could have that happiness somewhere else.

2 days later

Naruko was standing in the village gates with Miki Tenchi, the woman who offered Naruko a new life. Right now the Sandaime, Hinata, Kazuki, Hiashi, Teuchi and Ayame, the Ichiraku Ramen owner and daughter were in the gates saying their goodbyes to Naruko.

"Naruko, take care of yourself alright?" spoke Hiashi

"I will" she said with a smile, which brought a smile to Hiashi

"Be sure to behave alright Naru-chan?" said Kazuki

"Don't worry I will"

"It sure is sad losing our #1 customer but we're happy that you can find some form of happiness in your life" said Teuchi wiping the tears he had with his left forearm as he wept bucketful, he's a very emotional man

"Thanks Teuchi-san" spoke Naruko

"Naruko, when you come back to visit or to stay the first 15 ramen's are on the house" said Ayame

Naruko rubbed her belly "I don't think I want to live anymore" everyone laughed at that

Hinata spoke next "I-I-I'll miss you, N-Naruko"

"I'll miss you too Hinata, you were my first and only friend, my best friend" Naruko hugged Hinata one more time before letting go

Sandaime Sarutobi was next and he walked over and crouched in front of Naruko

"Naruko, I want you to have these" he took out two items out of his robe and put them on Naruko's head, then lowered them until it reached her neck. Naruko lifted the items and what she saw was in one hand she had a red swirl and the other she had what looked like a circle with the upper part showing a storm while the down part showed a raging sea.

"What are these Ojii-san?" she asked eyeing the necklaces with admiration

"They belonged to you parents"

Naruko immediately looked up to Hiruzen's face "But…but I thought that they…"

"No Naruko, they did not abandon you, I cannot explain right now but they wanted you to have a very happy life, when you come back, whenever that is, I'll tell you when I think you're ready for the truth but for now, trust me when I say this that they loved you, with all their heart"

Naruko nodded to what Hiruzen said "Are they…dead?"

A sad expression appeared on Hiruzen's face "Yes…I'm sorry, but they protected you to their dying breaths, I can say no more than that, I'm sorry"

"It's okay Ojii-san" she hugged Hiruzen, and he wrapped his arms around her

"I'll miss you"

"I'll miss you too, Naruko" he let go of her and she walked back over to Miki who looked at her with a smile

"Ready to go?" she asked

Naruko nodded and Miki handed Naruko her orange fox doll

Naruko and Miki then started walking out of the village, Miki carrying the supplies for their journey over to the orphanage, while Naruko carried a small handbag that contained her personal items and a picture of Sandaime, herself, Hinata, Kazuki, in the picture she's 4 month's pregnant, Hiashi, Teuchi and Ayame. As they walked away Naruko turned back and waved at them. They waved back and Naruko and Miki continued on their journey, once out of view, Hinata, let her tears fall, while her mother calmed her down. The Hyuuga's left and went back home, so did Teuchi and Ayame, but Hiruzen stayed longer and looked up at the sky when he made sure no one was around.

"Minato, Kushina, I'm sure this is what you wanted, right?" he sighed "A place where you're little girl is not hated but loved, I just wish I knew if what I did today was not a mistake, I only wish for Naruko's happiness" he looked down and towards the road "Good luck, Naruko Uzumaki…Namikaze" and with that he turned and walked back to the village.

**A/N: And done, whew. Another chapter done, you know I cried a little bit here, writing that last part had me emotional. Well anyway, excuse me for a sec *wipes tears away and blows nose into a napkin* ok much better, well as I was saying hope you like the chapter and remember to review, it'll lighten up Hinata's mood now that her friend left, but don't worry, she'll be back. Well bye for now. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Another few days huh? Well here's chapter 3, enjoy.**

6 years later

An 11 year old girl, soon to be 12 in 3 three months, was walking down the road, her destination, Konoha. The girl was nearing the gates of Konoha, this girl was Naruko. The guards, Kotetsu and Izumo noticed her and stopped her, though they were very wary of the girl. Why? Well that's simple; Naruko was covered from head to toe, literally, in bandages. Not an ounce of skin was showing except for her left eye that stared at them without any emotions. Strands of red hair were poking from the bandages that fell down to her face, her long red hair fell to her lower back. Each finger was bandaged separately, done like this for full maneuverability of the fingers when in battle, that also goes for her feet. And that was all that she was wearing only bandages covering her whole body, nothing else. Which is what scared the guards since they've never seen someone like this.

"Halt, state your name and business" said Kotetsu

"…"

Kotetsu and Izumo looked at each other than back at the girl

"Can you tell us your name and why you want to go in the in the village?" said Izumo

"…"

Again they looked at each other, not knowing what to do

"Are you…mute?" asked Kotetsu

Naruko shook her head

"_Well it's a start_" thought Izumo, he looked at the girl up and down, wondering if he's seen her before, she looks familiar but he can't put he's finger on it "Are you…lost?"

Again Naruko shook her head

"So…you're not mute…and you're not lost" stated Kotetsu

"Are you here on business?" asked Izumo

Naruko shook her head

"Are you…here to see someone?" asked Kotetsu

Naruko nodded

"_Finally, we're getting somewhere_" thought Izumo "Is this someone…a friend of yours?"

Naruko nodded

"Is this friend…very important…to you?" asked Kotetsu as he kept looking at Naruko, also noticing she's familiar

Naruko nodded again

"Is this person…a ninja?" asked Kotetsu

Naruko nodded

"Is this ninja #1 male" asked Izumo raising his left index finger "Or #2 a female?" he raised his right index finger

Naruko raised her left index finger

"Hmm…is he a strong ninja?" asked Kotetsu

Naruko again nodded

"_Hmmm, the strongest ninjas would be…_" though Izumo "Is it...Maito Gai?"

Naruko shook her head

"Is it Asuma Sarutobi?" asked Kotetsu

Naruko shook her head

"Is it Kakashi Hatake?"

Another shake of the head

"Maybe it's…." thought Izumo, and he shrugged thinking "_Worth a shot_" and he asked "Is it the Sandaime?" he said with a smile while also thinking _"I really doubt it's him"_

Naruko nodded which caused Kotetsu and Izumo to jaw drop.

"_This little girl is friends with the Sandaime?" though Kotetsu_

"_There's just no way that she knows Sandaime-sama..." thought Izumo_

Then Kotetsu and Izumo noticed something. This girl had red hair, a blue eye, and she knew Sandaime. The only person they know that fit those qualities would be…

"NARUKO?" they yelled at the top of their longs and it was heard throughout the village.

Immediately Kotetsu and Izumo called for some ANBU to escort the girl to the Hokage Tower. The two ANBU were skeptical at first but complied nonetheless thought they were didn't let their guard down. As they led Naruko to the Hokage Tower most civilians started whispering and looking at Naruko. When they made it to the Hokage Tower, they entered and walked up the stairs to the Hokage's office. There were two more ANBU guards at the door who, just took one look at Naruko and took out their ANBU swords thinking she was hostile.

"Sheathe your swords, she isn't hostile" said one of the two ANBU, this was a female ANBU with long purple hair that reached her mid back, leading Naruko _"Well, as much as I can tell she doesn't seem hostile, though you can never be too careful"_

The ANBU at the door looked at each other and nodded, sheating their swords, and the one on the left knocked on the Hokage's door. They heard a 'Come in' and the ANBU to the right opened the door. The two ANBU led Naruko inside and stood in front of her, blocking the Sandaime from seeing her.

"Cat, Boar, what's wrong?" asked the Sandaime

"Well, Sandaime-sama, there's someone here too see you" said Boar, the male ANBU accompanying the female one.

"So who is it?"

Cat and Boar moved to the side, so as not obstructing Sandaime from seeing Naruko. At first, Sandaime didn't know what to make of this, except for '_this girl looks like she should be at the hospital right now, so why…?_' that is until he saw two necklaces, which Naruko was carrying in her right hand '_Those necklaces_' he took a closer look at the girl '_It can't be_' he removed his pipe from his mouth and stared intently at Naruko "Naruko?"

Naruko nodded and Hiruzen's eyes widened

"Boar, Cat, leave us" he ordered. The ANBU bowed and disappeared.

Sarutobi then stood up and placed a sound barrier around the room before walking over to Naruko, kneeling down and giving her a hug. "Naruko…"

Naruko stood there letting herself be hugged before she raised her own arms, and hugged Sarutobi back. "Ojii-san…"

20 minutes later

Sarutobi was sitting back in his chair while Naruko sat in front of his desk.

"Naruko, may I ask, why are you wearing those bandages and not proper clothes?" he asked, wondering what had happened

"Because…I don't have…any clothes" she said

Hiruzen was dumbfounded, what did she mean no clothes? Wasn't she in a place that took care of her? That loved her? At least, that's what it said in the letters Naruko sent them, though they had stopped after the second year, 2 months after Naruko had celebrated her 8th birthday. And she said she had an incredible time.

"Naruko…do you mind removing, some of those bandages?"

Naruko stiffened and Sarutobi saw this and he had a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. But yet Naruko nodded and she stood up and walked away from the desk, and started loosening the bandages around her left arm and the ones covering her face except for the one covering her right eye, before taking them off. Hiruzen's eyes widened when he laid eyes upon her left arm. Her arm looked like it was cut off and chopped into pieces before being stitched back together. Though he didn't see any stitches and instead saw black tattoo like markings around her arm that seemed to take the shape of stitches though they also seemed to be part of her skin. And when he looked at her face, there seemed to be multiple slash like scars around it. And they were also deep scars, though they were healed already. Naruko then loosened the ones on her right arm and around her stomach and back, except for the ones around her private area and chest; she let these fall to the ground also. When Hiruzen saw her body, he was almost driven to tears, but years of experience prevented them from falling. Her right arm, stomach area, right leg, and mid back, all had burn markings around it, very few inches of skin were left untouched or weren't burned that much as other areas. Her left leg, upper back, and lower back were all marred with the same slash markings like on her face, though these ones were more severe, and much longer and deeper. But some of them looked like they went right through her body, like if she was impaled multiple times She also took off the bandages around her neck and showed Hiruzen a scar then went all around her neck, like if her head had been severed cleanly off her body.

"Naruko…who did this to you?" spoke Hiruzen, eyes wide and jaw opened, unable to believe the sight before him. He also found it hard holding in his breakfast.

She spoke and said one word "Orochimaru"

"O-Orochi…maru?" he couldn't believe this,

Naruko nodded

"Can you…tell me what happened?" he asked, wanting to know what Orochimaru did, why he did it and possibly, where he is now.

When Naruko didn't answer he knew that it must have been an incredibly traumatizing experience and did not press the issue, though he still wanted to know, he just wasn't going to ask now, maybe someday.

"Ojii-san, I would like to enroll in the Ninja Academy" she said, her lone blue eye staring intently at Sarutobi

Hiruzen looked at Naruko, with surprised written all over his face "Why Naruko?"

She didn't answer, and instead, looked over to a potted plant that was sitting by the window to the left. Hiruzen followed her gaze and saw that she was staring at the potted plant. He saw her walking over to it and pick it up, then returning to the center of the room and placing it on the floor. She then scanned the room and walked over and picked up a scroll and again placed it in the middle of the room. She then went over to the desk and took one of the many papers there and like the other two, placed it in the middle of the room. She then made sure nothing was in the way and walked over to Sarutobi.

"Can I have three kunais?"

Sarutobi thought that she lost her mind, what kill three items? That sounded overly ridiculous but nonetheless he opened a drawer and withdrew three kunais which he handed over to Naruko. Naruko took them, thanked him, then walked over to the door and took all three kunais with her left hand and hurled them at the objects on the floor. One of the objects, the paper, popped in smoke but whatever was inside still got hit and landed with a thud on the floor. The other two kunais hit their targets before they went up in smoke. When the smoke lifted, there lay on the floor, three ROOT ANBU with kunais embedded in their heads. Hiruzen was surprised and amazed at this, Naruko just single-handedly located and killed three ROOT ANBU, each one with only one kunai, and the force behind the throw was incredible as the kunai were embedded almost up to the hilt in their skulls, only their masks stopped the kunai from going through their skulls.

"N-Naruko, you just…incredible" he couldn't resist the smile that formed on his face. Three highly skilled ROOT ANBU, were just killed by an 11 year old girl. That also surprised him a lot, how did Naruko know where they were when he himself couldn't even detect them?

"Can I join the academy?"

Hiruzen looked at Naruko and noticed that she hasn't displayed any ounce of emotion, and she didn't even look fazed when she killed these three men. "Hmmm, first who taught you how to do that?"

"…"

A minute passed and Naruko still didn't answer. Hiruzen sighed knowing he wasn't going to get anything out of Naruko. "Can you at least tell me if the people who taught you that, were people you can trust?"

Naruko nodded

"Very well, I will enroll you into the academy. Good thing too, because school starts in 1 week"

1 week later

Naruko was now waiting outside the academy in a corner. She was sitting down, with her knees to her chest as she had her arms wrapped around them. If anyone were to look at her, they might think she's a prop for class since she had both eyes concealed by her bandages. In fact the only thing that wasn't hidden by bandages was her hair. It was 5 minutes before the bell rang and a chuunin instructor was at the entrance to the academy about to go in. He stopped when he saw something red popping out of a corner. He walked over to it and when he turned the corner he almost jumped in shock when he saw Naruko. He stared at her and thought she was a prop since Naruko wasn't moving at all; she just sat there like a statue. The teacher decided to take it with him and picked her up in his arms. He was slightly surprised by how heavy she was; he thought props didn't weight this much. It weighed almost like a human at 11 should weigh. But nonetheless he walked around the corner again, with Naruko in his arms and proceeded to his assigned classroom.

When he got there a minute late, he saw and heard the class talking and throwing paper airplanes around the room.

"Settle down please" he said, nobody heard

"Settle down" again no one heard

"**QUITE!**" his head grew humongous as he yelled. The class immediately quieted down and went to their seats.

"Thank you" he sat Naruko down on one corner and walked over to the front of the class behind his desk

"Hello class"

Some of them returned the hello, while others grunted in an uncaring tone (Guess who), others were too busy looking out the window at the clouds (Again guess who), while two others were just fighting over a seat next to a black haired boy, the one who grunted before.

"Well this is your last year in the Ninja Academy and to those who don't know me, I'll be your teaching instructor Iruka Umino, now any questions you need answered before we begin class?"

Some of them raised their hands and he picked a random student.

"Yes Kiba?"

Kiba Inuzuka is a 12 year old student who has purple lines on both cheeks. He has slit eyes and a fur jacket with his hood up and a white puppy on the top of his head.

"Why did you bring a mummy?" he asked pointing to Naruko who had not moved still.

Iruka looked at Naruko then back to the class "Actually I believe it's a prop, I found it outside the academy and decided to bring it with me, maybe it belongs to one of the other teachers?"

Kiba walked over to where Naruko is to take a closer look. He poked her head and still nothing. He looked at her body and noticed something off _"Why would they make a mummy prop, that looks like an 11 maybe 12 year old girl with breasts that belong on a 16 year old girl?" _Yes, Naruko was well endowed in that area. She had bigger breasts than what a normal 11 year old girl should not have. Kiba was about to poke one when Naruko's right hand shot up and gripped Kiba's wrist, very tightly. Everyone in that class gasped, even the black haired boy was slightly surprised, that a prop just moved on its own. Naruko, still gripping Kiba's wrist, stood up and with her left hand, moved the bandages covering her left eye, and like always she had it half-lidded and emotionless. Naruko let go of Kiba's wrist who promptly fell on his butt and nursed his wrist. Naruko looked around, wondering where she was until her eyes landed upon the chairs and Iruka looking at her with a shocked face.

"Uhh, w-who are you miss?" Iruka asked trying to keep his surprise from his voice, to fail miserably

Naruko was about to speak when she heard someone yell "NARUKO" and then she was tackled by someone who hugged her with as much strength as possible, while letting her tears fall

Naruko was surprised by this, for one she just recently joined the academy and throughout the week she stayed at her apartment, a different one than her original since that one was burned down, and she had not made any friends. She then saw that the person who was hugging her had dark blue hair and he remembered only one person with that hair, who was also this emotional. Naruko slowly wrapped her arms around the person and whispered "Hinata"

The other students were confused now, for two reasons, first one being who was this girl and second one, how does Hinata know her.

After Hinata and Naruko stopped hugging, 2 minutes later Hinata went back to her seat with a big blush of embarrassment for doing something like that in public. Iruka asked again who Naruko was.

"Naruko Uzumaki"

Iruka tried to remember that name but nothing came to mind, then he checked his list of students and saw her name.

"Ahh, you're the new student Hokage-sama told me about"

Naruko nodded

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you, now there's an empty seat right about…ah ha, there, next to Hinata" Naruko then walked over the stairs and headed to where Hinata was. Along the way she heard whispers of people but paid them no heed. She sat down next to Hinata and class started. 10 minutes later they were outside for a practice session in the shinobi arts, to see if the students got any better over summer vacation.

First up was throwing.

The students waited until their name was called, then they take 5 kunais and 5 shurikens and try to hit the target which was tied to a tree. Most students did an ok job while others showed promise. Some of these included Kiba Inuzuka who scored 3 kunais and 3 shurikens, Choji Akimichi, a big boned kid who liked to eat, a lot, who scored 3 kunais and 2 shurikens, his friend Shikamaru Nara, a lazy student with pineapple hair who scored the same as Choji. Sasuke Uchiha the proclaimed by his fan-girls as the top best shinobi in the world who could take on anyone, he scored 5 kunai and 5 shurikens. Sakura Haruno, one of Sasuke's fan-girls, one of, if not the most, obsessed ones, only scored 2 kunais and 3 shurikens. Another of Sasuke's fan-girls, a girl called Ino Yamanaka, did better than Sakura in scoring 4 kunais but only 2 shurikens. Then came Hinata's turn and she scored 3 kunai's and 4 shurikens. Shino Aburame was the semi-last one to try and he scored 4 kunai's and 3 shurikens.

Then came Naruko's turn and a lot of the students were whispering while most of Sasuke's fan-girls were saying how weak she must be. Naruko threw the shurikens and kunais and they all hit vital spots around the target but none in the target. The said fan-girls laughed at her and started calling her dummy mummy. When Iruka asked what happened, because from what he saw, Naruko would have gotten a perfect score too. She responded by saying that each spot she hit was a vital spot in the human body and that even though she didn't the bull's eye, the target would already be dead, instead of just wounded by throwing a kunai at his chest, which every ninja can dodge with ease if he sees it coming. This statement shut up the fan-girls and Sasuke was glaring at her, while Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji whistled seeing as how she just one upped the Uchiha prodigy, while Shino raised an eyebrow at this, seeing it was true while Hinata smiled at her friend. Even Iruka was impressed and he would have given her a perfect score but academy rules did not let him and so he was forced to give her a 0. She didn't care.

Next came Ninjutsu.

The students had to show their best ninjutsu.

Most students showed off the academy jutsus, some not knowing anything else. Sasuke was an exception since he used his **Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu**. Again the fan-girls were upon him saying how cool he is how hot he is, one even saying marry me (guess who, here's a clue, it wasn't Ino). But when Naruko's turn came up she showed nothing, when Iruka asked why, she replied by saying that shinobi's who show off their skills are the ones who will end up dead the quickest. Because you're enemy now knows your capabilities and your skills and can plan to counter each of your moves. This of course, brought another glare from Sasuke, though the fan-girls just said that she said those words because she doesn't know any ninjutsu at all and started pointing and laughing at her.

Next came taijutsu

The students were taken to a small ring were they were paired to fight each other in only taijutsu, nothing else. Most students did well, others not so much. Shikamaru went up against Kiba, Shikamaru forfeited. Shino against Choji, with Choji being the winner since Aburame's are not known for their taijutsu skills. Sakura went up against Hinata who only dodged Sakura's fist and tripped her, making her fall of the arena, in other words, pathetic. Ino went up against a random student, with Ino winning, and Sasuke went up against Naruko, most students and all his fan-girls, were cheering for Sasuke, while Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, though not really saying anything, more like spiritual help, and Hinata cheered for Naruko.

"Begin!" Iruka then jumped away from the arena

Sasuke got into the traditional Uchiha stand as Naruko just stood there. 2 minutes passed with neither doing anything. Then Sasuke charged at Naruko readying a fist directed at her face. Naruko dodged with ease. Sasuke tried again with a kick, she again dodged. This routine kept going for a few minutes, Sasuke trying to hit Naruko only for her to dodge each and every single one of his moves. Sasuke then got pissed at her and jumped. He charged again and when Naruko dodged, Sasuke smirked and kicked at her only for Naruko to grab his leg with her right hand and slammed her fist into his stomach, knocking the wind completely out of him. Sasuke doubled over in pain and tried taking deep breathes, and Naruko just stood there looking down at him. When Sasuke looked up his eyes met Naruko's and he saw the way Naruko was looking at him. Sasuke felt anger and fear quell into him.

"Don't look at me with those eyes" he whispered. Those eyes were the same way as his brother Itachi looked at him after killing of the Uchiha clan and before placing Sasuke in a Tsukuyomi. Those same emotionless eyes which Itachi used to kill his clan. Sasuke hated those eyes.

Naruko kept looking at him before turning her back and walking away from him.

"Where are you going? We haven't finished our-"

"Pathetic"

Sasuke's eyes were wide "W-what did you say?"

"You're not worth my time" and with that she was about to step out of the arena before she ducked to evade an enraged Sasuke's kick. She sweep kicked Sasuke and then slammed the heel of her right foot on Sasuke's stomach, creating a small crater and knocking out Sasuke. Everyone in the audience was speechless, before they were very surprised when Sasuke couldn't hit Naruko, then more surprised when Naruko hit him, and they thought they were seeing things when Naruko knocked out Sasuke. Naruko walked off the ring only to evade a fist aimed at her face and then slam her own into her attacker's stomach making her attacker hunch over in pain. When Naruko looked at her attacker she saw her attacker had long pink hair, there was only one person in the school who had that hair color.

"Sakura"

Sakura looked up at Naruko with anger in her eyes "H-How c-could you do that to…to Sa-Sasuke-Kun?"

Naruko just ignored her and Hinata came over, smiling at Naruko as well as congratulating her, also Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji and Shino came over and congratulated her on her victory against, as Kiba called him, the stuck up Uchiha bastard.

The rest of the day went without incident. When school was over everybody left except for Naruko and Hinata stayed a bit longer. They then headed home.

On the way to the Hyuuga Compound

"It was great seeing you again, Hinata" spoke Naruko

"I-I-It was g-great s-s-seeing you again to-too Naruko" said Hinata as she poked her fingers together, a nervous habit of hers

Then silence as they continued on their journey. Hinata was thinking of how to ask the question that's been bugging her since she saw her friend again. The Hyuuga Compound was now visible and Hinata knew she only had a few minutes left to ask, so she worked up as much courage as she could and spoke.

"N-Naruko" Hinata stopped walking, which made Naruko stop too. Naruko looked at Hinata who was at her right

"Yes?"

"Uhh…well I…I-I w-w-was w-w-won-wondering w-w-why is it t-that you're umm"

"Wearing these bandages?"

Hinata nodded

Naruko unwrapped her right arm and showed Hinata her her burn marks. Hinata covered her mouth as her eyes started welling up with tears.

"W-w-who d-did this to y-you?"

"Orochimaru"

"W-who's that?"

"…my target…" and with that she re-wrapped her arm and continued on towards the Hyuuga Compound but she stopped just a few feet away from Hinata and asked "Does this mean we can't be friends?"

"NO, not at all, we're still friends, Naruko-chan!"

Naruko looked back at Hinata "You didn't stutter"

Hinata blushed and said "I-I guess"

They continued on their way and were now standing in front of the Hyuuga Compound. They said their goodbyes, well Hinata did, Naruko nodded, and as Naruko left she stopped and heard an Elder yelling at Hinata, asking why she was late to practice. Hinata stuttered and told him that she took longer because she came home with a friend. The Elder laughed at her and asked what friends? A weakling like you, friends with someone? This person must be as weak if not weaker than you. Hinata tried to defend Naruko without saying revealing the identity of her friend; she even said that her friend beat Sasuke. The Elder got angry at Hinata because she yelled at him and didn't even stutter. He was about to smack her to shut up when Naruko appeared in front of him, holding his wrist at breaking point. The Elder screamed in pain which made Hiashi, a little girl with long dark brown hair, a boy with long brown hair, and 4 guards to appear.

"What's going on here?" asked Hiashi

The girl with brown hair walked over to Hinata "Nee-san, what's going on?"

"Unhand him!" spoke one of the guards

Naruko looked around room and she saw Hiashi. She immediately let go of the Elder, who got up clutching his wrist. Naruko started walking towards Hiashi, when the Elder, furious, attacked her.

"NO!" yelled Hinata

Naruko looked back and saw the Elder aiming his left middle and index finger at Naruko's heart. Naruko saw the Elder smirk, but then she grabbed the Elder's wrist, broke it, making the Elder scream in pain and then she did something that had everyone in the room shocked. She let go of the Elder's hand and formed the Gentle Fist stance, she then rushed to the Elder and slammed both palms into his chest. She released a surge a chakra and sent the Elder flying through the wall. He went through 4 walls before falling onto the floor, unconscious. Everybody in the room was shocked and had looks of disbelief on their faces. They couldn't believe that this girl that they have never seen before just performed their **Gentle Step: Air Palm **at such close range, much less so much chakra and strength behind it.

"W-who are you?" spoke Hiashi "How did you do that?" he demanded

"Kazuki's dead" spoke Naruko as he looked at Hiashi

Hiashi was wide eyed that this girl knew of his late wife. Hinata and Hanabi looked away.

"We demand to know who you are, if not we will force it out of you" spoke one of the guards and all four took positions around Naruko

Naruko looked back at Hiashi and said "Kazuki-san would be ashamed of you now Hiashi" the wind turned violent and the guards were blown away from Naruko. Hiashi was able to hold his place, so did Hinata who used chakra to hold herself steady while Hanabi held on to her. The boy with long brown hair also used chakra to hold his place while using his arms as a shield to block the wind. The wind started picking up even more and Hiashi had to shield his eyes too. Naruko kept looking at Hiashi as the some of the wind started circling Naruko. Hiashi was wide eyed when he saw the bandages covering her face shred to pieces and he saw her face. Naruko then disappeared and the wind immediately stopped. Hiashi still couldn't believe who that girl was and whispered

"Naruko"

Naruko appeared inside her room in her apartment and she walked over to her desk, picking up more bandages, she re-wrapped her face and walked over to her bed. She lied down on her side on her bed and raised her left arm and pulled down the bandages on her head, covering her left eye with them.

*Mindscape*

Naruko appeared in a big field. She walked up a hill and at the top she saw a lone tree next to a house. She walked over to it and opened the door. Inside she walked to the living room where she heard people talking. When she entered she saw a man sitting on a chair and two women sitting in a sofa. The man had blonde spiky hair, blue eyes, long dark blue pants and a black shirt with sleeves reaching just past his elbows and blue sandals. One of the women had long red hair, green eyes, dark blue pants that reached past her knees, and she had a purple shirt over a white undershirt and blue sandals too. The last woman had dark red hair and had a loose red kimono that showed off her cleavage. She had red eyes with her pupils being a slit. She also had whisker marks on her cheeks and she had black sandals. The man was slipping tea as the two women bickered, again, for the same reason.

"I told you I am her Kaa-san, not you" spoke the first woman

"Oh really? Who was with her for the first 8 years of her life?"

"T-That doesn't mean anything!"

"It means quite a lot actually"

"I gave birth to her that is extreme excruciating pain; have you ever given birth to someone?"

"No, but technically, I did give her life again after the hebi-teme did you know what, that counts as giving birth, so I'm also her Kaa-san"

"She's right you know" spoke the man

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" yelled both women at the man, who sighed and kept sipping his tea

Naruko knocked on the doorway and they all turned to her. They smiled and welcomed her in.

"Hi Naru-chan, how did school go?" spoke the first red-head

"Good" Naruko walked over and sat on the chair next to the man

The second red-head then scowled at Naruko "Kit, we've told you that, when you're home, you don't have to wear the bandages"

Naruko nodded and snapped her fingers. All her bandages except the ones covering her womanhood and chest disappeared. Then she slowly opened her right eye, revealing her other blue eye.

"That's better" spoke the same red-head

"Kaa-san"

Both red-heads pointed at the other

Naruko pointed to the one on the right. The second red-head shrugged and picked up her tea

"What is it Naru-chan?"

"Could you train Hinata?"

"Hmm, that depends"

Naruko tilted her head slightly "On what?"

"If she wants to be trained by me, so tomorrow after school ask her if you can talk to her privately"

Naruko nodded

"Minato, be a dear and pass the sugar" said the second red-head

Minato picked up the salt and passed it to the red-head "Here you go Kyuubi"

"Well Naruko if that's all; I'll go make dinner now"

Naruko nodded

"Hey Kushina what are we having?" asked Kyuubi, who was pouring a lot of sugar onto her tea

"Not sushi, that's for sure" spoke Kushina and she left the room and walked over to the kitchen to start dinner

Kyuubi pouted and then sipped her sugar-I-I mean tea, sipped her tea

"Naruko, did you show anything at school?" asked Minato

Naruko shook her head

"Ahh, why not?" pouted Kyuubi

"Well I told Naruko to keep her skills under wraps" said Minato "We don't want the whole village knowing that there 'demon' is back, and having an 11 year old girl with skills that can beat Kage level shinobi, will definitely cause quite a big uproar and I don't want the council sticking their noses where they don't belong, especially Danzo"

"Hmm, true, although, what the Kit did to the Uchiha was priceless" Kyuubi started laughing

Minato chuckled

Naruko had left the two too continue talking while she walked over to the kitchen

"Kaa-san, can I help?"

Kushina looked back and smiled "Sure"

**A/N: Well what did you think? I'm pretty sure you're wondering what did Orochimaru do to Naruko huh? Well you'll know, just not now and remember to review; it helps lessen Hiruzen's pain of what happened to Naruko. See you in the next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Wow, 12 reviews already? Seem like people like Naruko and Hinata. Well, thanks for your reviews, they make me happy. I've read some that honestly, they aren't good, its way too straightforward for my liking, though I'm not saying my story is good, that's up to you to decide. There are few stories that, to me, are good, and most, again my opinion, are bad. This is my opinion anyway, I'm not saying my story is one of the ones I think are good, because I don't and I don't think I ever will. Also I never will think anything I make or do is good or not. I just write or make it, and let others decide for me. Well, hope you enjoy the chapter. **

The school year passed by rather quickly. Naruko had told Hinata and Hiruzen everything, the day after the first day. To say Hinata and Hiruzen were shocked was an understatement; they were beyond shocked, they were horrified. Hiruzen was able to keep from puking but Hinata wasn't so lucky. Naruko had showed them her memories, showed them her 2 years of endless torture. Hinata was, for lack of a better word, scarred. Naruko had apologized to her and told her it was ok if she didn't want to be her friend any longer. Hinata hugged Naruko and cried, and she kept saying she was sorry. When Naruko asked for what, Hinata replied that she's sorry that Naruko had to go through all that. That she was sorry she wasn't there to help. But she promised to make Orochimaru pay for what he did. Hiruzen also promised and cursed the day he let Orochimaru escape. He joined to hug and also apologized for not killing Orochimaru years before. Maybe then Naruko wouldn't have had to go through what she did. That day, that moment, Naruko let out a tear. Minato, Kushina and Kyuubi were very happy for Naruko. Naruko then created 3 blood clones for her family. When Hiruzen saw Minato, Kushina and Kyuubi…he fainted. Hinata was surprised by the three adults and Naruko explained after Hiruzen had woken up. They were surprised but none more so than Hinata when Naruko told her if she wanted to train under Kushina. Hinata was unsure at first but Kushina told her that she would make Hinata powerful enough to make Orochimaru pay. Hinata accepted almost immediately which made everyone laugh at her eagerness, except for Naruko, though she was happy…I think.

The only problem was Hiashi. Halfway through the school year he started noticing that Hinata was less shy and more confident. Why? He did not know. But he kept a close eye on her after what Naruko did to the elder. He hadn't even confronted or talked to Naruko after that, knowing he really screwed up as a father when Kazuki died.

Throughout the school year, Naruko was constantly picked on by Sasuke's fan girls; though she ignored them and also she was the year's dead last, why? Simple, just like the first day in class, she never revealed any of her techniques. In Ninjutsu, she never did anything; in throwing, she never hit the target and just showed different forms of incapacitating targets with kunai or shuriken and in Taijutsu practice she was always paired off with Sasuke, something about a being his rival or something, and always came out winning. This made his fan girls pick on her more and Sasuke to hate her more and he proclaimed her his rival, this didn't matter to Naruko in the slightest something which pissed off Sasuke even more. By the end of the year, Sasuke was the rookie of the year and Naruko dead last.

Present time: Graduation exam.

Naruko needed to pass this exam to join a team so today she was going to just get the minimal points to win. First up was the written exam, and she answered 60% of the questions while leaving the others black. Next was throwing and she scored 3 kunai and 3 shuriken, some students thought were thinking if something was going on, seeing as she never even tried to score. The only students to see through this were Shikamaru and Hinata. Shikamaru was a genius, so it was easy for him to see that she just wanted the minimal points to win while Hinata already knew what she was going to do.

Then it was a Taijutsu match and this day Hinata took her revenge on Sakura for always picking on her best friend. One chrakra powered fist and Sakura was sent to the nurse's office, and she was diagnosed with 4 broken ribs. The students, except Naruko, Iruka and Mizuki, another chuunin instructor, who just found Naruko to be creepy since she always walked around in bandages, were all surprised by what shy little Hinata Hyuuga just did, and with so much hate in her eyes. Sasuke had had his eyes on Hinata when he started seeing improvement in her, something his fan-girls didn't have. He also saw that she spent almost all her time with Naruko, the person he hated almost as much as his brother. He wanted to get to know Hinata, but she always refused him. One time he pinned her to the wall and tried to kiss her, only to end up paralyzed by Hinata hitting a pressure point in his neck. He was paralyzed the whole day; he couldn't move at all, if it wasn't fan-girls who found him on the floor, he would have slept there that day. But that only made Sasuke want her more, seeing as how she didn't show fear towards him, something he found liked since it meant that she took her shinobi training seriously. But enough of that.

Then after a 30 minute lunch break, where, like always, the more curious students were looking over at Naruko, hoping she would take of the bandages to see her face and like always, she just loosened the ones around her mouth so she could eat, which brought a wave of disappointed groans from the student, the students were taken back to the classroom where they were called upon one by one, to a room where they would show the academy basic Ninjutsu.

Students were called and many passed other's failed and left the room. Naruko was the last one to go and after a good luck from Hinata who was wearing her new Konoha headband around her neck like choker, she walked to the room. There she saw Iruka, Mizuki and another instructor.

"Ok Naruko, can you show us the Henge, Kawarimi and Clone Jutsu?" asked Iruka with a smile

Naruko nodded, but formed a cross with her index and middle fingers and whispere **"Shadow Clone Justu". **Then three clones appeared next to Naruko, two on her left side and one on her right. She then whispered **"Henge" **and all the clones to her left turned into Minato and Kushina while the one to her right turned into Kyuubi, but she had a henge which hid her tails and ears. All three instructors fell of their chairs in surprise when they saw their Yondaime Hokage there with a woman they knew as Kushina but they didn't recognize the third one.

"What's wrong, it looks like you've seen a ghost" said Minato, chuckling at the shocked faces of the instructors.

"Y-Y-Yond-d-daime s-s-sama?" almost yelled out Mizuki

"_Holy Kami, those clones look so much like them" though Iruka_

"N-Naruko can you perform the Kawarimi now?"

Naruko nodded and performed the necessary hand-seals for the kawarimi and with a whisper of **"Kawarimi no Jutsu" **Naruko was holding a pen while at their table appeared Kyuubi who was leaning into Iruka while showing a not so modest amount of cleavage which made all three instructors get massive nosebleads and promptly pass out

"Men these days" she got off the table "Just show them a bit of these" she grabbed her breasts and lifted them "And they promptly pass out" she let them go and they bounced a bit. Kushina was red in the face with anger while Minato was shaking his head.

"Well Kit, I'm leaving now, bye" she gave Naruko a kiss on her forehead and poofed away

"The nerve of her, wait until I get my hands on her I'm gonna-" Kushina stopped and calmed down "We'll see you later Naru-chan" she hugged her and poofed away

Minato kneeled down and spoke "Don't get any of their habits please" he said in a fake pleading voice

"I'll try" said Naruko

Minato smiled, hugged Naruko and poofed away. When the instructors woke up they saw Naruko still standing in the middle of the room.

"Congratulations Naruko, you passed" said Iruka _"Though that was a spook, for a second there I thought it was actually the Yondaime, but who was that woman that appeared with Naruko, one was Kushina I know that much but…" _Iruka left the thought go and handed Naruko her leaf headband which she placed on her waist like a belt. Naruko bowed and left the room.

When she left she saw Hinata smiling at her. Naruko walked up again, receiving the same glares from Sasuke and his fan girls and some congratulations from Hinata, Kiba, Choji, Shino and a muffled one from Shikamaru who didn't even lift his head from the desk. Iruka, followed by Mizuki and the other instructor appeared from the door. Iruka walked over to his desk.

"Ok class, listen up. Starting today you are no longer kids. You are now full-fledged shinobi. Shinobi who would defend their village till their dying breath. Now you need to be back here tomorrow for the Team Placements, is that clear?" he received a few nods "I expect great things from you all, class dismissed"

The students and teachers left the room, though Naruko and Hinata, like how they've done all year, stayed behind until the others left. After they left Naruko and Hinata left the room and headed to the exit. They bid each other farewell and headed home.

The next day at the academy

All the students that passed where now talking with the others, some saying how awesome it is to finally be shinobi of the leaf, while others were quietly waiting. Then Iruka walked into the classroom.

"Alright everyone, today you are being assigned to a team, comrades you can count on" he took out an envelope and stared reading.

"Team 1…"

As the teams were being given Hinata was wondering who she was going to be with, she hoped it was with her friend Naruko and hopefully not with Sasuke, who she saw was grinning that said 'I'm going to make you mine'. She felt disgusted and had to fight the urge to puke and/or beat him up.

"Team 7, Sasuke Uchiha" all the fan-girls crossed their fingers "Sakura Haruno" Sakura jumped up from her seat and yelled out her approval "and Naruko Uzumaki" the class went silent or rather the fan-girls went silent.

"NOOOOOOOO" they all heard and turned their attention to Sakura "Iruka-sensei, why her? She's a useless shinobi who cheated Sasuke-kun time and time again in taijutsu, there's got to be some kind of mistake"

Iruka face palmed, he just knew this was going to happen "Sakura, these teams were designed by Hokage-sama himself based on the academy skills you all learned and your skills, are you saying that you he made a mistake when he made the teams?" he asked while glaring at her, to put her in her place

Sakura immediately shut up and Iruka continued.

"You're sensei is Kakashi Hatake" the temperature in the room immediately dropped and they all looked at the one causing it, Naruko.

She was clenching her fists, and releasing killing intent. Hinata put a hand on her shoulder which made Naruko turn to her. Hinata shook her head, which made Naruko nod and she unclenched her fists and the temperature went back to normal. Hinata saw that, even though Naruko's eye was half-lidded, this time it showed emotion, anger. Everyone was wondering what just happened, and Iruka cleared his throat to get the attention of the class back, though he was also wondering what happened.

"Team 8 is Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Hyuuga, you're sensei is Kurenai Yuuhi" Hinata sighed, she wasn't with Naruko and she has to keep her abilities hidden for quite a while or else they were going to start asking who it was that trained her, and she promised Naruko she wouldn't say anything, neither Hiruzen.

"Team 9 is still active from last year and team 10 is Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara, your sensei is Asuma Sarutobi"

This time Ino yelled "NOOOO, why do I have to be with those two idiots!" she demanded while pointing to Shikamaru who was busy sleeping and Choji was eating his chips.

"Ino, because of the same thing I told Sakura" he also glared at her. This put her in her place

"Well everyone, wait here until your sensei's show up to pick you up, and let me say I am very proud of you all and good luck" with that he left the room and one by one the sensei's of each team started showing up. Hinata told Naruko that they'll meet later when her sensei came to pick them up and she left with her team. It was already 3 hours after the last team left and still no team 7 sensei.

"WHERE IS HE?" yelled out Sakura "He's already three hours late!"

As if on cue a man with silver haired spike up, his konoha headband covering his left eye and wearing the normal jonin clothes and jacket walked in.

"Ah here you are, meet me at the roof in 10 minutes" with that he shunshind out of the room.

Sakura jaw dropped but composed herself; she looked back and noticed that Naruko wasn't there. "What the! Where'd she go?"

She looked around the room and saw Sasuke already at the door "AH, WAIT FOR ME SASUKE-KUN" and she rushed over to Sasuke, Naruko forgotten.

When they made it to the roof they saw Naruko sitting down, knees to her chest, arms wrapped around them, with her back to a pillar as she looked at Kakashi who was feeling uncomfortable with her stare and couldn't read his little orange book.

"Sensei we're here" called Sakura

"Oh good, well then come here and sit down, we're gonna have a little exercise first" he said putting away his book, Sasuke and Sakura then sat down in front if Naruko and looked at their sensei who sat cross-legged in front of them.

"Ok, first we're going to get to know each other a little better by telling all of us are likes, dislikes, dreams, things like that"

"Why don't you start sensei?" asked Sakura

"Ok then" he cleared his throat "My name is Kakashi Hatake, I don't feel like telling you my likes or dislikes and I don't really have a dream at the moment" he then formed his eye smile as he looked upon the stupefied faces of Sakura and Sasuke

"_We only learned his name" they thought_

"Ok, now you go pinky"

Sakura glared at him for the nickname but immediately perked up "My name is Sakura Haruno, my likes are" looks at Sasuke and giggles "My dislikes are" looks at Naruko and glares "And my dream is to" she looked at Sasuke, turned red, and squeeled

"_Oh boy, a fan girl, this is going to be a pain"_

"Ok, you next duck-butt"

Sasuke glared at him while Sakura turned red with anger "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I don't have many likes and I have many dislikes, I have an ambition, not a dream. My ambition is to restore my clan and kill a certain man"

Sakura squeeled and thought _"Sasuke is soooooooo coooooolllll!"_

"_Oh Kami, this is definitely going to be a pain, even IF the council is forcing me to train him, no amount of payment is worth what I'm going to go through"_

"Ok, now you mummy girl"

"My name is Naruko Uzumaki, I don't feel like telling you my likes or dislikes or my dream"

Kakashi blinked _"Hmmmm, this one seems much smarter than the other two, but she doesn't look like she could do much of anything honestly" he kept looking at her "Well looks can be deceiving" "But did she really have to copy me?"_

"Well now that the introductions are out of the way, meet me tomorrow at Training Ground 5 for your test at 6:00 a.m."

"Test, what test, I thought we graduated?" asked Sakura surprised that they might have been lied too

"Nope, that test is a test to see if you can take the real test to become a genin" Kakashi eye smiled

"That…is…stupid" said Sakura

"Well, it's how it works. So like I said, tomorrow training ground 5, 6:00 a.m." he turned away then turned back "oh and don't eat breakfast, you'll puke it out" and he left in a cloud of smoke

Sasuke stood up and looked behind him to see Naruko had already disappeared. This left him with Sakura and he really did not want to be here with her. He just ignored her rambling and started leaving, Sakura right behind him still talking and he could sometimes make out that she asked him to marry her, though it was really low when he said it or she said it way too fast. He thought his ears were playing tricks on him.

Next day, training ground 5

When Sakura and Sasuke made it to training ground 5 they saw Naruko in the middle of the place, sitting down, knees to chest, arms around her knees, as she looked up at the sky. Sasuke just walked and sat down under a tree and Sakura sat down close to Sasuke.

2 hours later

Kakashi finally showed up and Sakura was fuming mad that he, again, was late.

"Where were you Kakashi-sensei!" yelled Sakura

"Sorry, you see, I was on my way here, when I saw an old woman that needed help with her groceries. Naturally I decided to help her and when I was done I ran into a black cat with green eyes. I had to take the long way around to avoid the cat and then the new issue of this book" he took out his book and then put it away "Came out and I just had to buy it but there was a very long line and I waited and here I am"

Sasuke and Sakura stared at him like he was crazy "YOU LIAR" yelled Sakura

Kakashi sweatdropped "Anyway, the test." He took out two bells "The test is fairly simple. What you need to do is get these bells from me before noon"

"That's easy for an Uchiha elite like me" exclaimed Sasuke

"But, there's a catch, if you're not able to get the bells from me by noon, you fail and have to go back to the academy"

Sakura paled while Sasuke still had that superior smirk plastered on his face "When you're ready"

Sakura nodded and so did Sasuke, yet Naruko did nothing, just stare at the sky.

"Go!" Sakura and Sasuke ran into the trees to hide

He looked toward Naruko "I said go"

She still did nothing

Kakashi walked towards her "May I ask what you're doing?"

"Cloud watching"

"That's nice and all, but there's a test going"

"I know what it's about"

"Really now? Care to share?" he took out his orange book

"It's teamwork"

"Oh?"

"A genin can't beat a jonin. You need teamwork to try and outsmart him, and then take the bells, for example, two distract the jonin, the third sneaks behind and takes the bells"

"Huh, you did figure it out, but…why aren't you then going to help your team?"

"They wouldn't let me, so I won't"

"How do you know they wouldn't let you?"

"Because they hate me"

"And why do they hate you?"

"Because they do"

After that it was just awkward silence for a couple minutes. Kakashi looked at Naruko and saw she was counting back from 3 with her fingers. When she had only one finger, two Kakashi clones appeared, one holding a knocked down Sasuke and the other holding a foaming Sakura.

Kakashi looked to the clones, then back at Naruko then back at the clones. He sighed and waved them off. The clones nodded and then poofed away, leaving Sasuke and Sakura to fall to the floor with a thud. A few minutes later they both finally woke up. When Sakura saw Sasuke she squealed in delight that he wasn't a pincushion for kunai, Sasuke just covered his ears to block out Sakura's squeal.

"Well, you all fail" he sighed and put away his book

"Do we?" asked Naruko from behind him

Kakashi looked back and saw Naruko holding both bells. "Wha! How did you?"

"They distracted you and I just walked behind you and took the bells" she said simply

Kakashi face palmed _"I cannot believe I was distracted like that"_

"Well, guess because of Naruko, you all pass, congratulations"

Sasuke and Sakura glared at Naruko while she still held both bells, one in each hand, and stared in front of her at nothing in particular.

Kakashi saw the glares at Naruko and sighed _"I knew I should have arrived earlier that day"_

"Ok team, you did…acceptable, but you need to work better on your teamwork. Naruko figured it out by paying attention and looking underneath the underneath. You both failed in that aspect and" _"if it wasn't for the council"_ "I would have failed you, but it wouldn't be fair to Naruko, and you Sasuke did show somewhat good skills"

"_Somewhat good skills?" thought an angry Sasuke "My skills are the best, he's just jealous"_

"Also, remember this. People who betray the mission are scum but people who betray their friends are worse than scum"

Sasuke just grunted while Sakura tilted her head, confused. Kakashi sighed "Meet me tomorrow at the bridge at 7:00 am, we'll start training then"

He turned to Naruko "May I have my bells back?"

Naruko nodded and handed the bells to him which he pocketed "See you all tomorrow" he shunshined away.

Sakura turned to Sasuke and was about to ask him on a date when she noticed Sasuke walking away. She sighed and turned towards where Naruko was and noticed she had disappeared. She then just ran to catch up with Sasuke.

Naruko appeared in a tree branch at training ground 7 where team 8 was having their meeting when team 10 appeared. They joined team 8 and they all started talking. Naruko just stayed on the tree branch with her knees to her chest and her arms around them as she stared down to the group. She then saw the leader of team 10 look in her direction.

"Come out I know you're there"

Naruko just stayed on top the three

"I know you're not a spy, otherwise you'd be dead, so come down and let's chat"

She still didn't move

Asuma sighed "Suit yourself" he turned to talk back with the group

Hinata walked over to the three "Naruko, could you please come down?"

Naruko appeared in front of Hinata. Hinata took Naruko's hand and led her to her team. Naruko led herself be lead as she kept her grip on Hinata's hand. When they reached the group Asuma and Kurenai stared at the bandaged body of Naruko. They heard rumors about a living, breathing mummy girl, but they thought it was someone pulling a prank.

"Hi Naruko, how's it going?" asked Kiba, Akamaru barked from where he was perched on top of Kiba's head

Naruko waved

"Hi *munch* Naruko *munch*" said Choji stuffing chips like there's no tomorrow

Naruko waved at him too

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders and she waved at him

"Hello Naruko, I trust your team finished their meeting?" asked Shino

Naruko nodded

Ino just turned away

"So you're the mummy girl from those rumors?" said Kurenai

Naruko nodded

"Why do you wear bandages instead of clothes Naruko?" asked a curious Asuma

Ino slightly turned her head to the conversation, she being the gossip queen that she is, just needs to know why does Naruko wear bandages instead of clothes? Throughout the academy year, Naruko never ever came to class with clothes, only bandages.

"…"

Kurenai and Asuma decided to not press for information. They weren't stupid unlike others and knew that something bad must have happened

"Naruko would you like to join us for lunch later?" asked Hinata

Naruko nodded

Then they all just sat down and started chatting.

2 months later

"Duck here, target has been sighted" grumbled Sasuke over his damn codename

"Pinky here, roger that Sas-I mean Duck" spoke Sakura over their communicators

"Good, Mummy are you in position?" asked Kakashi

"Yes"

"Ok everyone; get ready on the count of three" "3…"

"*meow*"

They all heard that through their communicator

Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura looked towards the middle of the clearing and saw Naruko petting Tora, the daimyo's wife's cat, in her arms. Tora just purred happily.

Kakashi walked over to Naruko and pointed with disbelief "H-how!"

"You just-" she was about to explain how you pet a cat when Kakashi stopped her

"No not that, I meant how did you capture Tora? That cat could be considered a demon! And it doesn't like anybody!"

Naruko shrugged "I don't know. I just walked over and picked her up"

Kakashi's lone visible eye twitched. Sasuke and Sakura also couldn't believe she just did that, since they've all been trying to get the damn cat for 2 hours.

Kakashi sighed "Let's go back team"

Hokage tower

"Kakashi and team 7 returning from a mission Hokage-sama" saluted Kakashi

"Good job team" he looked towards Naruko who was still petting Tora who was still happily purring. Sarutobi's jaw dropped "Na-Naruko h-how are you-"

Kakashi just held up a hand "Don't ask, we don't know either"

Sarutobi just nodded "Ok, the daimyo's wife should be here any minute to pick up Tora"

And just like that the door was thrown open and in walked the daimyo's wife who ran to Sarutobi's desk'

"Hokage-sama, did the shinobi you sent find my little Tora yet?"

Sarutobi nodded and pointed to Naruko

"OHHHHH, MY TORA" the daimyo's wife immediately ran to Naruko, took Tora from her and proceeded to crush-I mean hug Tora "Ohh my poor baby, I'm sure you were all lonely out in the wild weren't you? Yes you were, but don't worry, mommy's here"

Sarutobi coughed to get her attention "Oh yes, thank you Hokage-sama" she turned to team 7 "Thank you too for getting my little Tora back" she then walked over to Sarutobi, placed the payment on the desk and left the room. Naruko had waved to Tora while she was being carried away.

"Well Kakashi, I must say, these last few months, team 7 has been one of the best teams, tied only to team 8"

Kakashi bowed "Thank you Hokage-sama"

"Now I have a few missions I would like for you to do" he took a few sheets of paper from the huge stack on his desk. Does that ever get smaller?

"Hmm, these missions are cleaning the Nara's deer stable"

Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura shivered

"Help the Akimichi count their food storage"

The three slightly paled

"Or-"

"Hokage-sama, isn't there any harder missions? One's that are not chores?" said an angry Sasuke "Missions were we can prove ourselves as shinobi?"

"Sasuke" Kakashi called but was interrupted by Sarutobi

"So what you're saying is you want a harder mission, to test your strength? Since you believe D-ranks are beneath you?"

Sasuke nodded and Kakashi almost hit him on the back of his head for that

"Hmm, I have one for you. It's a simple C-rank escort mission. You're task would be to escort you're client to his home in the Land of Waves so he can finish building his bridge, do you accept?"

Sasuke grumbled. An escort mission is not what he wanted but with any luck, they would be attacked by bandits or other shinobi and he would be able to show off his skill.

"Its fine Hokage-sama" said Kakashi

"Good, Tazuna you can come in now" Sarutobi said and the door opened to reveal an old man with a bottle of beer in one hand while having a towel over his shoulders

"Eh? I asked for a group of shinobi but all I see are a bunch of kids, a cyclops and a mummy" he said as he laid eyes on team 7 who were not happy that this was their escort though Naruko didn't seem to care in the slightest.

"Its fine Tazuna. These are some of the best teams we have right now, I'm sure they'll do a good job of escorting you back to your home"

Tazuna didn't seem convinced in the slightest and he looked nervous, something that Naruko saw. "Ok Hokage-sama, I'll take your word for it"

"Good, now Team 7, you have 1 hour to prepare. You will all meet up at the main gate, understood?"

They all nodded

"Ok, now dismissed" and they all left

1 hour later

Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi had arrived at the gate to see Naruko sitting down, knees to her chest; arms around them. When they noticed, Naruko didn't seem to have any backpack or anything, only a small bag.

Kakashi walked over to Naruko as Sasuke and Sakura waited farther away from Naruko as they waited for Tazuna

"Naruko, what's in the bag?" asked Kakashi

Naruko stood up and opened the bag to show Kakashi the contents. When he looked inside, he saw a whole pack of bandages and 2 bags of instant ramen. Kakashi blinked and thought _"She barely brought enough food to last 4 days and what's with her love for bandages?"_Kakashi sighed "Is that all you're bringing Naruko?"

Naruko nodded and Kakashi sighed again

A few minutes later Tazuna appeared with another bottle of beer, a hat and his backpack that had all the items a brought and bought while he stayed in Konoha.

"Hello there Tazuna" said Kakashi

Tazuna nodded

"Well team listen up" the genins looked at their leader "Sakura you'll guard Tazuna's back" Sakura nodded "Naruko you'll cover his right" Naruko nodded "Sasuke you'll cover his left" Sasuke nodded

"Good, I'll take the lead, everyone ready?"

They all nodded

"Then let's go"

They took their positions though Naruko was a couple of feet away from Tazuna, something that got the attention of her team and sensei but decided to ask later.

5 hours of walking later

They were already miles away from Konoha.

"Kakashi-sensei, how long will it take to reach the Land of Waves?" asked Sakura

"It will take maybe 2 or 3 days, it all depends on Tazuna"

They kept walking when they passed a small puddle. Kakashi knew that that was no ordinary puddle since it hasn't rained for a few days and he looked back to see if his team noticed. It didn't seem like they had and he sighed. When they were a few feet ahead the genjutsu around the puddle disappeared and two people appeared. They threw a chain that coiled around Kakashi. They then pulled on the chain and ripped Kakashi in to pieces. Sakura screamed and Sasuke charged to fight against their enemy. The two quickly took care of Sasuke and threw their chain towards Tazuna who was too scared to move. Before the chain could get any closer Naruko grabbed it and pulled it apart breaking it in two. The two then charged at Naruko with their clawed gloves at the ready. Naruko charged too and before the two knew what was going on, Naruko had pinned them down to the floor by their necks and they tried to pry her off but were surprised by how strong this little girl was.

"Good job team" said Kakashi as he jumped from a team

Sakura looked over to him "Kakashi-sensei? But-but weren't you!" she looked towards where 'Kakashi' was and just saw a log. Sasuke got up and saw the same thing and was angry that Naruko had stopped the enemy.

"Heheh" chuckled Kakashi "Naruko-" he looked to where Naruko was and saw the demon brothers stab their clawed gauntlets right through her chest. "NARUKO!"

Naruko snapped their necks and stood up. She faced the group and gripped both gauntles and removed them from her body. The group was staring in disbelief as Naruko did this. Her wounds almost immediately closed and she dropped the gauntles on the floor. She took a step towards her team but

"S-Stay away you freak!" yelled Sakura

Naruko stopped

"What the hell are you? You should be dead!"

Kakashi glared at Sakura "You will shut up now Sakura" he turned to Sasuke "And you will say nothing, got that?" Sasuke closed his mouth but continued to glare at Naruko

Kakashi turned to Tazuna "You owe us an explanation"

Tazuna sighed and for the next hour and a half, he told them everything that has been happening in the Land of the Waves.

When he finished "And that's why I lied"

"You know that we could just quit the mission seeing as you lied, right?" said Kakashi in a serious tone

Tazuna got really nervous now "P-please don't! Please, I just need to build the bridge! After that I swear that once Wave has enough money we will pay you back for the mission, please!" he begged

Kakashi turned to his team and saw Sakura and Sasuke standing as far away from Naruko as possible while still being near their client to hear the story

"Team, you heard, so I ask, do we continue or do we quit and go back?"

Sasuke knew that more enemies were going to be ahead and he wanted to prove that he was better than Naruko and so without hesitating "I say we continue"

"Me too!" yelled Sakura, though it was only because Sasuke was going

Kakashi turned to Naruko "And you?"

"Send for back-up"

Kakashi eye smiled at her while Sakura and Sasuke both glared at her. Sasuke because he won't be able to show off his skill as much while Sakura because Sasuke won't be able to look as awesome now.

Kakashi took out a blank scroll and a quilt and started writing a summary of what happened, what may happen, and their request. After making sure everything was in order, he rolled up the scroll and summoned one of his dog summons.

"Pakkun, I need you to give this to Hokage-sama"

"Got it Kakashi" Pakkun took the scroll in his mouth and ran back to the village.

"Ok team, we're going on ahead" he turned to Tazuna "Is there any place you know where we can stay when we arrive in Wave?"

"Well, with me of course. I'm sure my daughter, Tsunami, will be happy to see our heroes" he laughed while Kakshi sweatdropped "And again thank you very much"

"You can thank us after we finish this mission. Now everyone, let's go!"

And they headed off to Wave again.

**A/N: Well, hope you liked it. Now, you will decide. Do you want me to save or kill Zabuza, save or kill Haku or save or kill them both? You decide. Message me your answer or put it in a review. I will not be writing the next chapter until I get at least 4 reviews or messages with your answer. Well if that's all, see ya in the next chapter. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello again everyone. Here is the next chapter and wow, I never expected to see so many people want Zabuza and Haku alive, though I'm one of them too. Oh and for snoogenz and Yuri-Hime-chan, I never said Haku was going to be a girl. But! I will now. So for those who don't want Haku as a girl then I'll take whatever comment you have about it, be it good or bad, and it still won't change my mind. Honestly, I didn't even know if I was going to make Haku a boy or a girl, even though I know Haku is a boy. So Haku is going to be a girl, period. Enjoy the chapter.**

Konoha, Hokage's office

2 hours later

Sandaime Sarutobi was now reading the scroll brought by Pakkun, one of Kakashi's dog summons.

"Hmm, these are surprising news" he spoke

He then called an ANBU and ordered him to bring him team 8.

30 minutes later

"Team 8 reporting for duty, Hokage-sama!" saluted Kurenai followed by her team

"Good" he spoke "Team 8, I have a very important mission for you. It seems that Tazuna, a bridge builder from Wave, has lied to us about the mission parameters. It seems the mission that was originally a C-rank, is in fact an A-rank mission" Team 8 gasped "So I am sending you as back-up" Kurenai nodded "Good, now, you may leave to prepare, oh and take this scroll, it'll explain everything in better detail"

Kurenai went to Sarutobi, who handed her the scroll and Team 8 started leaving

"Hinata, before you leave, come here"

The group looked as Hinata went to the Hokage

Hinata stood next to him. Hiruzen the whispered into her ear what happened between Naruko and the demon brothers.

"Hmm, I understand Hokage-sama" she whispered back

Hinata bowed to the Hokage and left the room.

Outside the room her team was waiting for her

"Hey Hinata, what did the Hokage want?" asked a curious Kiba

"Nothing important Kiba" she said

2 days later, Land of Waves

Team 7 and Tazuna were on a boat, thanks to one of Tazuna's friends. Naruko was at the front looking forward, while Kakashi and Tazuna were in the back with Tazuna's friend. Sakura and Sasuke were in the middle. Sasuke had not stopped glaring at Naruko since getting on the boat. The boat ride was simply silent.

1 hour later

They finally landed on Wave. After giving their thanks for the ride, the man left and they continued walking towards Tazuna's house.

A few minutes later they were walking through a forest, closing in on a lake

"How much longer until we arrive?" asked Sakura

"A half hour or so" answered Tazuna

Sakura nodded

A minute or so later when they were walking next to the lake

Naruko removed the senbon needle she taped behind her konoha headband and threw it onto a bush. She walked over to it and picked up a trembling white rabbit

"Naruko-baka, you almost killed that rabbit!" yelled Sakura

Kakashi then heard something coming closer and closer at a fast pace

"DUCK!"

Sasuke immediately ducked and Kakashi pushed Tazuna and Sakura with him. A massive blade passed right over their head. Naruko stayed up and turned to look at the blade. The blade was inching closer to severing her in half but then she let go of the rabbit and grabbed the blade with her right hand, stopping it completely. Team 7 and Tazuna were wide eyed at what she did. She then grabbed the blade by the handle and hurled it into a tree, trapping the swordsman by the neck with the blade.

The man then turned into water and reappeared above the blade.

"Hmm, that was a very good move" spoke the man

Team 7 stood up "Who are you?" asked Sakura

"That's Zabuza Momochi, ex-nin of Mist. A-rank and a master of the Silent Killing Technique" said Kakashi stunning Sakura and Sasuke

"Oh?" Zabuza took a more careful look at Kakashi "Huh, you're Kakashi Hatake the Copy nin. Must be my lucky day, but sadly I'm not here for a fight. I'm under orders to kill the bridge builder"

"We won't let that happen. Team, protect Tazuna, I'll handle Zabuza" team 7 nodded, though he could see Naruko staring intently at Zabuza

"I was hoping you'd say that, I've been itching for a fight" he made some hand-signs and a thick fog rolled in and Zabuza disappeared

"Team, stay together!" Team 7 huddled up close to Tazuna to protect him

"_That mummy girl caught my Kubikiribocho. Hmm, she's not someone to take lightly. I better take care of her and the builder in one swipe, though I doubt it'll be that easy"_

"Heart, lungs, brain, so many vital spots and all can kill in one shot" Zabuza's voice echoed in the mist

"W-what's he doing, Kakashi-sensei?" asked a scared Sakura

"Silent killing" he responded simply

"You seem to know my technique pretty well, don't you?" his voice said right in the middle of the group "But just knowing it won't save you"

Team 7, except Naruko turned back to Tazuna just as Zabuza swung his sword and cut him in half

Sakura screamed, Sasuke cursed and he and Kakashi dashed to fight Zabuza.

Zabuza ducked under a kunai slash by Sasuke and delivered a fist to his gut. He then jumped back to avoid Kakashi's kunai throw. Kakashi then dashed and they both engaged in a Taijutsu battle. Sasuke was recovering his breath and he looked back and saw that Naruko was in the same place, doing absolutely nothing and Sakura was trembling.

"_What the hell are they doing? Kami they're useless! How did I, an Uchiha elite, kept losing against that bastard mummy!"_

Sasuke took a deep breath and stood up and saw Kakashi lifting his headband, revealing his sharingan eye

"_What the! How does Kakashi have a sharingan? Only Uchiha's can have the sharingan, so how does he have one?" spoke a shocked and slightly angry Sasuke_

"Well Kakashi, I must admit, you're not half bad" spoke Zabuza as he and Kakashi were deadlocked in a force of strength with their kunais

"You either, but this is the end for you" Kakashi took out another kunai and stabbed at Zabuza's head

"You're right, this is the end" Zabuza spoke right before the kunai pierced his skull and he turned into water

"_A water clone?"_ Zabuza then appeared behind Kakashi and swung his blade, slicing Kakashi in half only for him to turn into water

Kakashi then appeared behind Zabuza and grabbed his arm, spinned and hurled him into the lake.

Sasuke joined the fight and they both engaged Zabuza in taijutsu.

Naruko looked towards Sakura and saw her trembling then she looked to a specific tree behind her and turned to look back at the fight. A few minutes past before Sasuke was sent flying next to her and for her to see Kakashi getting trapped in an orb of water.

Kakashi cursed and tried to slice the orb open with a kunai but it didn't work. Zabuza smirked.

"Well looks like you lose Copy Nin."

"Not really" spoke a voice next to him

Zabuza looked next to him and saw Naruko there.

"H-how did you?" he stared shocked at her _"I didn't even sense her"_

Naruko pointed back to shore. Zabuza carefully looked over and was shocked. There stood Tazuna, unscratched and pretty much alive. Team 7 also followed Naruko's finger and were shocked too.

"H-how!"

"Shadow clone" she said simply

Zabuza chuckled "Well, that was unexpected" he made one handed hand-signs and summoned two water clones "But I'll still finish my mission" he sent one clone to finish of Tazuna and another to fight Naruko

The clones didn't move two feet before they were cut up. Naruko appeared a few feet in front of Zabuza, holding one of Zabuza's kunai.

Zabuza made another clone and Naruko waited until the clone was close. The clone didn't get 10 inches closer to her before it was sliced in half. Another clone and another slice, and Naruko appeared to be doing nothing except staying still.

"_What the hell! How is she…?" Kakashi thought, shocked "Wait…that's her speed!" another clone was sliced in half "I can barely follow her swing with my sharingan"_

Naruko then appeared right behind him, holding the kunai to his neck, and she seemed to be floating in the air. She moved her face to his ear "Let him go, or I'll kill you"

Zabuza then disappeared in a poof of smoke and a log was in his place, freeing Kakashi. Naruko looked over to the other end of the lake and saw Zabuza.

Naruko started walking towards him, but Kakashi grabbed her arm before she could keep moving.

"Stop, you can't beat him" he said

Naruko brushed his arm off and kept walking.

"Naruko, stop that's an order"

She kept walking and shortly after ran towards Zabuza at a moderate speed. Zabuza took out a kunai and waited for her to get close. They engaged in a kunai battle.

Sasuke had woken up just in time to see Naruko fight Zabuza. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Naruko being able to fight Zabuza on even ground and not just that, she's beating him too, it's more like she's not even serious. Sakura and Kakashi were also astounded and also Tazuna, but none more so than Zabuza himself as he fought this girl.

"_What the hell is going on!" he blocked another slash "Who the hell is this little girl?"_

The battle lasted for a few more minutes before three senbon needles were impaled into Zabuza's neck and his body fell in the water. Naruko immediately grabbed his arm and jumped all the way to shore in one long jump surprising everyone again. Naruko set Zabuza's body on the floor and checked his pulse, he was dead.

"He's dead" she said, Kakashi walked forward and also checked his pulse

"She's right, he's dead"

Then a masked hunter-nin appeared "I thank you for helping me take care of Zabuza" said the nin, and by the voice, it was female

Kakashi nodded "So you're the one who threw those senbon needles?"

"Yes; now" she set Zabuza's left arm over her shoulders "I'll be on my way to dispose of the body, good day" she made a hand-sign and she and Zabuza disappeared

The battle now over, Kakashi covered his sharingan eye again and fell to the ground. Team 7 walked to him.

"Kakashi-sensei, what's wrong?" asked a concerned Sakura

"Not to worry Sakura, I just used a lot of chakra that's all. Using my sharingan uses up quite a bit of chakra, though I don't think I'll be able to move right for a while"

"Sensei, where did you get that sharingan?" demanded Sasuke

"At the moment Sasuke, you don't need to know that, but I'll say this, it was a…gift"

Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger but said nothing more

"Now, Tazuna you'll have to lead us to your house, I doubt more enemy's will come, at least for now"

Tazuna nodded and walked in front of the group. Tazuna was going to help Kakashi until he was suddenly thrown high into the air. Kakashi started flailing to try and stop his descent and then he landed on Naruko's shoulder and she grabbed his legs to hold him steady, like if he was a pig.

"Let's go" she said and started walking.

Sakura's jaw dropped, Sasuke was pissed and Tazuna just thought he had too much sake.

Land of Waves

Team 8 had just arrived at a sign outside of waves that read "Bridge under construction"

They were looking for some way to cross and luckily they saw someone who had just arrived on his boat.

"Excuse me, but could I ask you to give us a ride to Wave?" asked Kurenai

The man looked at her and noticed there headbands "You're leaf ninja?"

They nodded "But, I thought…"

Kurenai held up a hand to stop him "Don't worry, we're here as back up, since our Hokage sent us thanks to someone who had apparently forgotten some information" she said with an accusing tone

The man let out a nervous laugh "Sorry for Tazuna doing that but I'm sure you know what's going on"

They nodded again "Anyway, of course I'll ferry you over, hop in"

Half an hour later they made it to the shores of wave, exactly where he dropped the others.

They thanked the man and he left.

"Kiba, can you detect Kakashi and his team?" asked Kurenai

Kiba started sniffing around and got their scent

"I got them Kurenai-sensei"

"Then lead on"

They were lead on by Kiba towards Team 7's direction.

At Tazuna's house.

Kakashi had already been healed up, also Sasuke and were in relative silence in the living room. Sakura was wondering if she could ask Sasuke out on a date. Tazuna was drinking sake, while Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, and Naruko were upstairs in one of the guest rooms.

When they had arrived they were greeted by Tsunami and led inside. She wanted to heal Naruko up first but Naruko insisted to heal the others. When she had bandaged up what needed to be bandaged up and disinfected what needed to be disinfected, she had asked Naruko to follow her to a room to be healed up.

A few minutes later went on and they heard a scream. Kakashi, Tazuna, Sasuke, Sakura and Tsunami's son and Tazuna's grandson, Inari, had all rushed up to the room where Tsunami and Naruko were. When they arrived, they saw Tsunami at the door almost in tears.

"Tsunami what happened?" asked Tazuna

Tsunami opened her mouth to speak but immediately remembered that she had promised Naruko not to tell anyone and so closed her mouth and shook her head.

They were confused by this "Kaa-san, what's wrong?" asked Inari

"Nothing Inari, everyone, please go back downstairs now, and do NOT enter this room until I'm done" she said

They all nodded skeptically and returned back down, with Inari in tow. When they left Tsunami entered the room again and saw Naruko sitting on the bed, with no bandages on her, courtesy of Tsunami. She saw more burn marks on her right breast and slash marks on her left. Her private area had a long black stitch like tattoo going from her area towards where her womb is. She also had her right eye closed and refused to open it. Tsunami walked over to Naruko and gave her a big hug. She didn't even know the girl but she felt immensely sorry for what happened to her, things she didn't even want to think about.

A half hour later Naruko was downstairs with the group, again dressed in her bandages. Tsunami had refused to answer the questions regarding her scream and anything that involved Naruko, even refusing Kakashi any information. While Tsunami was making dinner everyone started gathering around the table, except for Naruko who stayed seated in her chair. Kakashi was about to call her over until she stood up and walked to the door. She opened it and there stood Kurenai with her team, with everyone except Hinata being surprised that she knew they were there. Tazuna walked up to them and welcomed them inside after they explained who they were and what they were doing there. A few minutes later, dinner was served and everyone was eating around the table except for Naruko who was eating in a corner which across from her was a window which she was looking through, and Hinata who joined her, much to Sasuke's anger.

At the table

"What do you mean Zabuza's alive?" asked Sakura

"I meant as in he's still alive Sakura" said Kakashi "Can anyone tell me what hunter-nins are for?"

Sasuke spoke "Hunter-nins are used to dispose of the body of rogue-nins so as to protect the secrets of their village"

Kakashi eye smiled "Very good Sasuke, but, rogue-nins destroy the body were it was found, but what did this one do?"

"She took his body somewhere else?" answered Sakura nervously

"Exactly, in other words, that was not a rogue-nin. It's safe to say it was an accomplice of Zabuza and we will see him again"

There was a collective gasp "B-but what do we do now?" asked Tazuna

"Don't worry Tazuna, seeing how injured he was, I'm sure he'll be out for about a week"

Tazuna sighed in relief

"Team" called Kakashi

Sasuke and Sakura looked at him, while Naruko kept looking out the window

"For this next week, I'm going to be training you"

"And I'll also train my team" spoke Kurenai

"Agreed, better to be safe than sorry" they all nodded

Zabuza's hideout

"The 'Demon of the Mist', HA, what a joke"

The masked-nin looked back and saw Gato and two of his bodyguards.

Gato walked towards Zabuza, who was in bed "I cannot believe that you ran with your tail between your legs because of some damn mummy brat" he stopped next to his bed "I gave you a simple mission, kill Tazuna and what do you do? You fail, and now look at you. The 'Demon of the Mist' reduced to this. Right now anyone" he was moving his hand towards Zabuza's mask "Could kill you"

The masked-nin grabbed Gato's hand and twisted it painfully but not enough to break it

"Hands off Zabuza-sama" she said

The guards took out their swords and moved towards the masked-nin. The girl let go of Gato and appeared between the thugs, holding ice swords to their necks.

"Stop it Haku" called out Zabuza

The girl known as Haku nodded and took out the swords from their necks

Gato was furious "One chance, you get one more chance to kill that damn bridge builder or else, understand?"

Gato then left with his guards.

Haku then walked back to Zabuza and sat on the chair

"You know you didn't have to do that" she knew he had a kunai hidden under the sheet

"I know but, you know we need the money for the job" she took of the mask and smiled at him

Zabuza sighed "I know, so do you know where they're staying at?"

Haku nodded "Yes, at Tazuna's house"

"Good, a week from now I'm having that rematch against Kakashi and that mummy girl"

"Zabuza-sama, are you sure it's a good idea to fight that girl?"

"What do you mean?" asked Zabuza

"Well, when I was watching you two battle, I noticed that she seemed to be going very easy against you…"

"Is that so?" Zabuza looked up at the ceiling "Interesting"

"Zabuza-sama?"

"Haku, I have a job for you to do"

**A/N: Well that's it for this chapter. Did you like? Hope so. Yes I know it's short and all but I haven't been able to concentrate completely these days, even in summer vacation. Oh well, anyway, hopefully I'll bring you the next chapter soon and again I know I asked the question of who wanted Zabuza and Haku alive and all and that part didn't even show up, but I asked that for two reasons. 1: To know how many wanted them alive or not and 2: So I didn't forget later on. Well I guess that's everything, except for remember to review please. That is all; see you in the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I am soooooo sorry this took so long! I tried to get myself to write, I seriously tried! But when I did, nothing came. Sorry, sorry, and again sorry! **

**Oh and this is a bit late but better late than never right?**

**Disclamer: I don't own Naruto. Sadly, else he would have gotten together with Hinata since the chuunin exams. *sob***

Training started early in the morning. Kakashi led his team to a nearby clearing, followed by Kurenai and her team. They then instructed their team in chakra exercises, more specifically, the tree climbing exercise, which Sakura thought impossible, until Kakashi demonstrated it for her.

"Ok everyone, now I want you all to try" said Kakashi and the teams got to work

"Except you Naruko, I need to talk to you about something, come with me" Naruko nodded and followed Kakashi.

Sasuke and Sakura were about to follow them until Hinata stood in their way

"You two aren't going." said Hinata

Sakura was pissed but Sasuke put on a smirk

"I get it, you just want me all to yourself right?" he said slowly getting closer to Hinata

Hinata scowled and before Sasuke could react, he was already passed out on the floor due to a Jyuuken strike from Hinata.

"Not even crazy" she spat and then turned her attention to Sakura who was screaming at her over what she did to Sasuke.

-With Naruko and Kakashi further into the forest-

Kakashi stopped walking and turned to face his bandaged covered student with a firm tone.

"Naruko, I want you to answer a few questions regarding what happened with the Demon Brothers and your abilities."

Naruko didn't even show any motion of paying attention to him, but Kakashi knew she was.

"…alright, my first question; how did you survive the demon brother's claws going right through you?" he asked "Besides the serious injuries, they were also poisoned, so even if you did somehow survive their weapons going through your chest, the poison would have still killed you."

Naruko stayed silent but truthfully, she was talking to her parents about what to do. When she got their answer she spoke.

"It's a secret" she answered

"Naruko…"

"Shinobi are entitled to their secrets, are they not? We need not talk or show our abilities unless necessary"

"Well, it's necessary now, because as a Sensei I need to know my team"

Naruko stayed silent once more.

"I can tell you're not at genin level, far from it actually. Your abilities in the battle against Zabuza were not that of a genin but of a high ranking jounin, and from what I saw you weren't fighting seriously."

Naruko remained silent

"Who exactly are you?" it came out more of a demand than a question.

"I can't tell you, but I am not your enemy" she responded

Kakashi got even more serious at the dubious response "Fine, but I have one more question"

Kakashi took a deep breath "Your hair color, it is natural right?"

Naruko nodded

"I only remember two people with that color hair. The first is an old friend who died with my sensei, and the second is a little girl who was taken over by a demon…"

Naruko already knew where this was heading too

"That little girl left Konoha when she was six, and we never heard from her again. If she's still alive, then she should be your age" Kakashi's clenched his right hand since he was using the crutch to hold himself up with his left "Tell me, are you that girl?"

Naruko slowly nodded "But I didn't come back to do Konoha any harm"

"Then why are you back?"

Naruko stayed silent

"Tell me, why the hell you came back!?" Kakashi yelled.

"All I will tell you is that I'm not here to get revenge on the village who scorned my very existence, of that I give you my word" Naruko said in the same emotionless tone, although Kakashi could swear there was a slight touch of venom laced among them.

"How can I trust you? After everything you did, how can I trust you?"

"You'll just have to." Naruko finished before she disappeared with the wind.

Kakashi was seething with anger but soon calmed down to walk back to the clearing, where he was sure Naruko to join Hinata .

-At the clearing

Naruko appeared next to the tree they were supposed to climb. Sakura had already made it up her tree with more than a few mistakes (one of them due to Naruko surprising her with her sudden appearance). Kiba was still trying to get halfway, while Shino always got close but never made it to the top.

When it was Hinata's turn, she got close to the top, but then disrupted her chakra on purpose to keep the deception going, as her precious friend Naruko-chan asked her to.

Sasuke woke up a few minutes later thanks to Kakashi. He then told his team to take a break and asked Sasuke to go with him somewhere. Kurenai, after another hour of training gave her team a break as well. Hinata asked Naruko if she wanted to take a walk to which she nodded.

-A few minutes after they reached a flower field.

When they arrived they saw another girl, who was picking flowers and putting them in a basket she brought. Hinata was curious and walked over to the girl.

"Excuse me, miss" called Hinata

The girl looked back and saw Hinata "Hello."

"Hi, I'm Hinata Hyuuga" Hinata greeted back

"Haku, nice to meet you" smiled Haku

Hinata smiled too ""Nice to meet you too" Hinata then noticed the different flowers Haku had in her basket "Uhh, can I ask you a question?"

Haku nodded

"Why are you picking so many different flowers?"

Haku looked at her basket and smiled "It's because most of these flowers can be used for medicine, you see."

Haku then explained why she was collecting flowers since she was going to make medicine for a precious friend of hers who got injured. Hinata decided to help Haku pick flowers, after Haku explained which ones work for medicine. Hinata also called Naruko to help and the three girls spent the rest of the day picking flowers and talking about different things, well it was more Hinata and Haku talking while Naruko would just stay silent unless asked something. They talked so much that they didn't notice it was already sunset.

"Wow, look at the time, sorry Haku, but we gotta go." said Hinata as she stood up and bowed, Haku nodded and also stood up returning the gesture, picking her basket up in the process

"Of course, I also have to leave, I'm sure my friend must be wondering where I am"

Hinata nodded "Ok, bye Haku, it was nice meeting you" said Hinata as she and Naruko were leaving in the direction of Tazuna's house.

"Goodbye then" Haku then left in the direction of Zabuza's hideout

With Naruko and Hinata

"Naruko-chan, is she the fake hunter-nin Kakashi spoke off?"

Naruko nodded

"Then I guess you better follow her, I'll make an excuse as to why you're late"

Naruko then disappeared

"Just be careful Naruko" Hinata then headed to Tazuna's house while working on what to say

At Zabuza's hideout

Haku just entered the room which had Zabuza in, who was sitting up on bed.

"Zabuza-sama!" Haku rushed forward to the bed "You shouldn't be moving!"

"Don't worry Haku, I wasn't planning on going anywhere"

Haku sighed

"Zabuza…"

Haku looked behind her and there, behind her was Naruko.

"How did you…!" Haku was shocked; she hadn't even sensed the girl at all

"Impressive Haku; that was faster than I expected" spoke Zabuza, surprised that Haku had completed her mission this fast. He thought she was going to make friends with them first but, wow, guess the mummy girl was even more trusting than he thought

"Uhh Zabuza-sama?"

Zabuza looked at Haku "What is it?"

"She followed me here" she deadpanned "I was planning on getting their trust first"

"Oh" Zabuza then looked at the mummy girl "Why are you here then?"

"I'm not here to fight. Of that you can be sure" said Naruko, who was looking at Zabuza "I also have a request"

Zabuza then asked "I also have a question of my one, but let's hear your request first"

"To call a favor, from someone who saved your life in the Third Great Shinobi War"

Zabuza then looked the girl over and noticed how she resembled the woman who saved him. The famed Red Hot-Blooded Habanero.

"You're her daughter aren't you?"

Naruko nodded

Zabuza looked down as he started chuckling, which made Haku worry.

"Zabuza-sama?"

Zabuza then laughed a full blown laugh. After a minute or two he stopped and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"I should have expected that, you're hair's a dead giveaway" said Zabuza patting Naruko's head.

"Zabuza-sama, Kushina Uzumaki saved your life once?" asked a surprised Haku at this new piece of information.

Zabuza nodded "Yes she did, even though we were on different sides in the war…" he looked to Naruko "Mummy girl over here is her daughter"

Haku looked to Naruko with wide eyes "You…you're _her_ daughter?"

Naruko simply nodded

"What's your name, kid?" asked Zabuza

"Naruko Uzumaki"

Zabuza nodded "And what is it you want from a guy like me?"

"For you to help us kill Gato and his men" Zabuza turned serious in an instant as he thought about it in his head.

"I'll do it."

"Zabuza-sama?" Haku was wondering why this sudden change of heart

"Don't worry Haku, I know what I'm doing, besides, severing Gato's head from his body is something I'd like to try"

Haku nodded and Zabuza turned to Naruko "What's the plan?"

At Tazuna's house

An hour later, Naruko appeared inside the house and Kakashi was the first one to ask where she was, to which she responded as secret, which angered him but he didn't show it.

"Dinner's ready!" called out Tsunami from the kitchen

At the table, everyone was seated, except for Naruko who had chosen the same corner again, with her bowl of rice. Sadly, to Hinata's right was Sasuke, but to her left was Kurenai so she was lucky that Sasuke wouldn't try anything on her, well hopefully. After everyone said their thanks, they dug in. Most of the dinner went off without a hitch, until…

"You people need to leave now!" yelled a distressed Inari

Everyone at the table stopped, and looked towards Inari

"What do you mean?" asked Kakashi

"All of you should just leave; you stand no chance against Gato, he's too strong!"

"Inari…" Tsunami knew why he was doing this

"Sorry kid, but we ain't going anywhere" spoke Kiba with the utmost confidence in his abilities

"Why!? Why are you all willing to kill yourself for people you don't know?! It's stupid!"

"It's because this is our mission" spoke Shino

"That's stupid! You're all stupid!" Inari stood up and ran to his room "You're all just throwing away your life!"

They all heard the slam of a door. Tazuna sighed.

"Please forgive Inari; he's been through a lot, what with the death of his father and everything that's happened"

Sasuke scoffed "Then he should want revenge instead of crying like a baby."

Hinata turned to him and was about to slap him for his indiscretion until she felt someone grab her hand. When she turned to look at the person she saw Naruko who shook her head. Hinata sighed.

"May I be excused?" asked Hinata, trying to contain her anger.

Kurenai nodded.

Hinata then stood up, taking her bowl, and after putting it in the sink, walked towards the door and left.

Everyone at the table looked towards the door but turned their attention back to their food and continued eating. Sasuke though, stood up and after leaving his bowl of food in the sink walked towards the door too. As he was about to grab the doorknob with his left hand, Naruko grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, forcing him onto his knees, all without dropping letting go of her bowl of rice, which she had in her left hand, while she kept Sasuke restrained with her right.

"You're not going." she said simply

Sasuke turned his head back at her and glared

"Let go of me, dobe!" he ordered. This mummy girl was constantly getting in his way, and frankly, it was irritating him to no end.

Naruko, in response, only tightened her grip on her arrogant teammate, eliciting a grunt from him, more so as she dragged him away from the door and towards the dining room.

She then pushed him to the chair. "Sit down." She simply said, with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Listen you-"

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke looked towards Kakashi who shook his head. Sasuke grunted and sat down, rubbing his wrist as Naruko went back to sitting back where she was with her bowl of rice. Everyone at the table, tried to ignore what happened and continued to eat, albeit a bit unsettled towards the mummy girl, although Sakura and Sasuke barely ate anymore as they looked at her with not so different thoughts in mind.

Soon after dinner was done with, it was decided it was getting late so everyone should get some rest, except for Kurenai and Kakashi who decided to take turns keeping watch in case of sudden ambush.

Naruko and Hinata were in their sleeping quarters as they were discussing the matter of their training. Although, it was mostly Hinata asking questions and Naruko giving simple answers.

"When can I stop holding back?" inquired a slightly irritated Hinata.

"…Until the chunin exams…" answered Naruko.

Hinata gave a disappointed sigh "You know he deserves it"

Naruko nodded "I know"

Hinata then gave her back to Naruko and took off her jacket, neatly setting it on her own bed.

"Naruko could you…?"

Naruko then turned around as Hinata continued to undress herself to change into her nightclothes. After a few minutes, Naruko heard the rustle of clothes stop.

"I'm done."

Naruko turned around and she saw Hinata in a white sleeping kimono. Hinata then walked towards her and lied beside her on the bed. Naruko then covered up her left eye and Hinata took her hands. Hinata then closed her eyes and touched her forehead with Naruko's. If one were to enter, they would think they were sleeping, but truthfully, while their bodies rested, their subconsciouses were inside Naruko's mindscape, where they continued training.

This is how it went for the next few days. Kurenai and Kakashi would train their team for about 2-3 hours, then a 20 minute break and then off to the bridge to keep a close eye; just in case someone tried to attack. By the end of the week, no problems with the bridge, but that couldn't be said about the teams. Sasuke seemed more arrogant for a reason no one knew. Kiba, already sick of the Uchiha's attitude, had challenged him to a fight and, after receiving the consent of Kakashi and a worried Kurenai, the fight started and ended 4 minutes later with Kiba being the loser. That only increased Sasuke's ego, which only served to irritate him more with each time he got refused by the hyuuga heir.

Finally the next day…

As the Konoha shinobi and Tazuna got ready to head towards the bridge, one of the worker's suddenly barged in.

"T-Tazuna-san!" he called out, exhausted and out of breath

"What is it, son?" wondered Tazuna

"T-There's…something wrong…with the bridge…" he spoke, panting too much to keep speaking.

Tsunami then came out of the kitchen with a cup of water which she gave to the worker, who took it graciously and drank it in one gulp.

"Now tell us, what's wrong?" Tazuna inquired again.

"A weird mist suddenly came up and enveloped the bridge, me and the other workers heard screams on the other side!"

With that new information, the konoha shinobi then got up and rushed towards the bridge, except for…

"Naruko." called out Kakashi

The mummy girl turned to him

"You and Hinata will stay here, just in case."

Hinata nodded and Naruko simply said nothing.

Kakashi and the rest made it to the bridge, witnessing the dense mist enveloping half of the bridge. As they cautiously moved forward they saw a silhouette walking towards them.

"So you called for more back up, eh?"

The mist cleared slightly, allowing the shinobi to see numerous workers on the ground, their bodies unmoving. Between them stood a man none of them expected to see again, it was The Demon of the Mist himself, not a few feet away from them in the flesh, accompanied by his supposed killer walking up right next to him.


End file.
